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THE ADYAN^CE-GUARD
OF WESTERI^ CIYILIZATIOI^
i^
JAMES R. GILMORE
(EDMUND KIRKE)
AUTHOR OP "THE REAR-GUARD OF THE REVOLUTION." " JOHN SEVIER
AS A COMMONWEALTH-BUILDER," "AMONG THE PINES," ETC.
31
l^
" We are the advance-giiard of civilization,
and our way is across the continent."
James Robertson, 1780.
NEW YORK
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
1888
r^^^
COPTKIGHT, 1888,
bt d. appleton and company.
PEEFACE
The substance of the present yolume was given to
the public in a course of lectures which the writer de-
livered before the Lowell Institute, of Boston, in the
winter of 1887-88. Those lectures are here amplified
and enlarged into what is intended to be a full narra-
tive of an episode which is, perhaps, the most unique
and remarkable in American history. The narrative is
the result of eight years' careful study of early events
in the Southwest, nearly four of which years were passed
upon the ground where the events occurred, and it is
the writer's sincere conviction that it may be accepted
as authentic history. To make sure that it should be
authentic, the proof-sheets of the volume have been
submitted for revision and correction to the Hon. John
M. Lea, President of the Tennessee Historical Society,
the Rev. Dr. John Berrien Lindsley, late Chancellor of
the University of Nashville, and the Hon. Randall M.
Ewing — three gentlemen who are undoubtedly better ac-
quainted with the early history of the Southwest than
any others now living. They have read carefully this
volume, and also the writer's two preceding ones on
collateral subjects — '^ The Rear-Guard of the Revolu-
IV
PREFACE.
tion" and "Jolin Sevier as a Commonwealth-Builder"
— and their suggestions in regard to them all have been
followed in the minutest particulars. The writer is
therefore confident that all that is related in the three
books will bear the closest scrutiny. Some valuable
notes furnished to the present volume by Mr. Ewing,
having been received too late to be embodied in the text,
are inserted in Appendix B.
The three volumes cover a neglected period of Ameri-
can history, and they disclose facts well worthy the at-
tention of historians — namely, that these Western men
turned the tide of the American Revolution, and subse-
quently saved the newly-formed Union from disruption,
and thereby made possible our present great republic.
This should be enough to secure for their story an at-
tentive hearing, had it not the added charm of present-
ing to view three characters — John Sevier, James Eob-
ertson, and Isaac Shelby — who are as worthy of the
imitation of our American youth as any in their coun-
try's history.
In the preparation of this volume the writer has had
the advantage of personal intercourse with the descend-
ants of the men he portrays, and he has also consulted —
so far as he knows — all that has been written upon the
subject. A list of these authorities he has given in the
preface to "John Sevier as a Commonwealth-Builder."
In addition to them, in the present book he has made
use of Gayarre's "Spanish Domination in Louisiana"
and the "American State Papers," the fifth volume of
PREFACE. V
which reports very fully the Indian affairs of that early
period. He has also in one part of his work received
valuable aid from John Mason Brown, Esq., of Louis-
ville, Kentucky. To him, and to Hon. John M. Lea,
Dr. John Berrien Lindsley, of Nashville, Tennessee, and
the Hon. Randall M. Ewing, he would here record his
grateful acknowledgments.
He will merely add, in the words of William H.
Stephens : ^'^I speak for that heroic State who was bap-
tized in her infancy with the sprinkling of Revolutionary
blood on King's Mountain ; who, five years afterward,
struck again for independence under the banner of the
daring young State of Franklin ; who grappled, single-
handed and alone, for fifty years, with the dusky war-
riors of the forest in all their battles from the Ken-
tucky line to the Southern Gulf ; who beat back the
British legions at New Orleans ; who smote the false
Spaniard at Pensacola ; who rushed with Taylor into
the breach at Monterey, and shared in the triumphal
march from Vera Cruz to Mexico." In this and my two
preceding volumes I have endeavored to rescue from
oblivion her earliest and greatest heroes ; and, if I have
done my work as faithfully as I ought, historians will
no longer ignore their existence, but be swift to assign
to them the exalted places to which they are entitled
in American history.
James R. Gilmore.
(Edmund Kirke.)
New Haven, Connecticut, August, 1888.
COlSrTEjSTTS
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
On the Otjtpost8 1
The important crisis in American affairs when the first settle-
ments were formed beyond the Alleghanies — The colonies about
to revolt, and Great Britain preparing to crush them by a front
and rear assault — The rear attack beaten off by a handful of
Western settlers — These settlers the advance-guard of Western
civilization — Their grand qualities — Nothing more heroic in
their history than their settlement of the district along the
Cumberland — Their journey across Kentucky to the present site
of Nashville — Description of the country — The settlers erect a
fort and organize themselves into a military body — Select loca-
tions for their dwellings — Perilous voyage of the women and
children down the Holston and Tennessee — Intended attack of
the Indians frustrated by the elements — The settlers form a
civil government — Their mode of life — The first victim to savage
atrocity — The Indians surround and attempt to starve out the
settlements — Daring raid of Robertson — The first wedding at
Nashville — A desperate war — Settlers threatened with starva-
tion — Inflexible resolution of Robertson — He breaks through
the Indian lines to secure ammunition — Returns from the peril-
ous trip in safety and is received with great rejoicing — Attack
on Freeland's Station beaten off by Robertson — This Robertson's
last fight with the Chickasaws — He soon afterward meets the
Chickasaw king, Piomingo, and contracts with him a friendship
that lasts till his death.
viii CONTENTS,
CHAPTER II.
PAGE
A Rain of Fiee 29
The character of James Robertson — His belief that he was
chosen by Providence to be the forerunner of Western civiliza-
tion — His unquestioning faith and great moral courage — xV re-
markable sleet — War breaks out with the Cherokees — The fort
at Nashville and the life of Robertson saved by the intrepidity
of his wife — The whole settlement a battle-ground — A hostile
coalition of the Northern tribes— Perilous state of the settle-
ments — Instances of heroism — David Hood hoodwinks the In-
dians — A company of discrowned royalties — The scouts and their
skill in woodcraft — Great mortality among the settlers — Their
mode of life in this rain of fire — Settlers propose to abandon
the colony — This opposed by Robertson.
CHAPTER III.
The Day dawning 56
A savage warfare — Thrilling escape of a woman — An unex-
pected re-enforcement — Toleration of Robertson — News of the
surrender of Corn wallis — Contemptible treatment of her soldiers
by North Carolina — Her " bounty " warrants — A renewal of In-
dian hostilities — The Chickaraaugas attack Buchanan's Station
— Peace made with the Cherokees — The settlers abandon the
forts and dwell in their homesteads — North Carolina erects
the settlements into a county — Nashville prospers — Robertson
elected to the Legislature — Establishes a court — Some of its en-
actments — A distillery erected — A primitive currency — Pioneer
preachers — A road opened to Clinch River — A store opened at
Nashville — Cloudless prospects, but a storm brewing.
CHAPTER ly.
A Raid upon the Creeks 77
Spanish complications — Importance of the Cumberland colony
as holding disputed territory — Prophetic views of the Spanish
minister — McGillivray, the Creek chief, calls the attention of
Spain to the danger threatened by the settlers to her North
American possessions — The character and appearance of this
CONTENTS. ix
PAGB
man — He forms a treaty with the Spaniards and attempts to
combine the Southern tribes for the extermination of the set-
tlers — Builds a station on the Tennessee, whence he makes con-
stant raids upon the Cumberland — The station discovered by
Piomingo, who informs Robertson — His narrow escape from
death at the hands of the Indians — The watchful sagacity of
the settlers' dogs — Letter of Piomingo to Robertson, which in-
forms him of the hostility of Spain — He sends two of his chiefs
to guide Robertson to McGillivray's station — The Coldwater ex-
pedition and defeat of the Creeks — Extraordinary endurance of
Hugh Rogan.
CHAPTER V.
Daek Day8 upon the Cumberland 106
McGillivray resolves upon an overwhelming effort to extermi-
nate the Cumberland colony — Aid given to Robertson by Sevier,
which enables him to beat off the attack — Activity and sleepless
vigilance of the scouts — Remonstiance of Robertson to the
Legislature — His memorial respectfully considered and the set-
tlers fully authorized to take care of themselves — Robertson
sends peace messengers to McGillivray — The embassy courte-
ously received, but the war continues — Murder of Colonel An-
thony Bledsoe — Intrepidity of Hugh Rogan — How Colonel
Bledsoe wrote his will — Robertson retorts upon McGillivray his
double-dealing.
CHAPTER VL
The Spanish Complication 125
A wider view of the situation — The Cumberland colony only
the advance-guard of a larger host who were scaling the Alle-
ghanies — A convention in Kentucky and its results — Importance
to the settlers of the navigation of the Mississippi — John Jay's
negotiations with the Spanish envoy, Gardoqui — Jay proposes
to Congress to yield the navigation of the Mississippi for twenty
years — The proposition received with uni\ersal indignation at
the West — Open talk in Kentucky of forming an independ-
ent government — The opportunity favorable for an ambitious
man, unscrupulous as to means — Such a man appears in James
Wilkinson — His career and disreputable course in the army —
X CONTENTS.
PAGE
The war over, he seeks a fresh field for his activity in Ken-
tucky — His plan to secure an exclusive right to navigate the
Mississippi.
CHAPTER VII.
The Treason of Wilkinson 145
How he made his attempt to capture the Spanish trade— His
bribe to Gayoso — Sends a load of produce down the Mississippi
and follows it by land to New Orleans — His produce saved from
seizure by Daniel Clark — His reception by Governor Miro —
Porms an agreement with him to swing Kentucky into the arms
of Spain — Returns to Kentucky with a permit for unrestricted
trade with New Orleans — Wins over to his treasonable design
some of the leading men in Kentucky — A convention called for
July 28, 1788, to consider the separation of Kentucky from
Virginia — Wilkinson seduces a majority of the delegates to
then vote the district out of the Union — Character and influence
of Isaac Shelby — The Spanish minister sends an envoy to John
Sevier with overtures of an alliance with Spain — Sevier draws
from the envoy a disclosure of Wilkinson's project, and warns
Shelby of it in time for the latter to frustrate his treason — Wil-
kinson's account of the proceedings of the convention to Miro,
which fully reveals his treason.
CHAPTER Vm.
A Deceitful Peace 182
Miro's long-continued overtures to Robertson — Correspond-
ence of General Daniel Smith with the Spanish governor — Robert-
son refuses all dealings with the Spaniards— His remarkable letter
to John Sevier, and incorruptible patriotism — His narrow escape
— Andrew Jackson's first military exploit — His original orthog-
raphy — News arrives of the adoption of the Constitution, and
inauguration of Washington — Great rejoicing among the settlers
in consequence — Treaty with the Creeks and Cherokees — Popu-
lation of the Cumberland colony — Great increase in the number
of stations — Sevier's view of the Indians.
CONTEi^TS. xi
CHAPTER IX.
PAGE
A StOBM Oy THE CrMBERLAND 197
Affairs in Kentucky — Miro sets a watch upon Wilkinson, who,
though appointed to the United States Army, continues his
treasonable connection with the Spaniards — Large influx of im-
migration — Washington's fruitless overtures to Spain — Treach-
ery of McGillivray — Cherokee spies appear in the settlements —
War begins \\ith several bloody butcheries — General uprising of
the people — Another narrow escape of Robertson — Heroic re-
pulse of seven hundred Indians by fifteen men and thirty women
behind the log walls of Buchanan's Station — Among the rescuers
a stripling, named Joseph Brown, who is instrumental in crush-
ing the Chickamaugas.
CHAPTER X.
Captivity among the Chickamaugas 227
The treacherous murder of Colonel Brown and his oldest sons
near Nick-a-jack Cave — His younger son, Joseph, made captive
— He is about to be killed by a chief, who predicts that if al-
lowed to live he will pilot an army there and destroy them all,
but is saved by a wretched Frenchwoman — Is held in captivity
nearly a year, and endures innumerable hardships, but is then
ransomed by John Sevier — After four years removes to the
Cumberland, and offers to guide Robertson to the secret haunts
of the Chickamaugas.
CHAPTER XI.
Spanish Maohixations 244
Two more years of savage warfare on the Cumberland — Only
fifteen of the original settlers had escaped slaughter — Evan
Shelby, Isaac Bledsoe, and three brothers of the scout Castle-
man are killed — Retaliatory raid of Castleman — Heroic exploits
of Jonathan Robertson and " Grandma Hays " — Joseph Brown
is wounded — The settlers appeal to be led against the Chicka-
maugas — The attitude of the State Department — Carondelet now
Spanish governor —His energy and overtures to the Indians —
Engages the Cherokees in the hostilities against Robertson —
xii CONTENTS.
PAGB
Piomingo's letters to Robertson, who supplies him with arms
and ammunition — Impudent letter of Carondelet to Robertson,
and his courteous reply — Spanish intrigues against Piomingo,
and his reported assassination.
CHAPTER XII.
The Chickamauga Expedition 275
The Spaniards form an extensive coalition of the Indians
against the Americans — Robertson induces the Legislature to
ask the protection of Congress, which body adjourns without
acting on the subject — In these circumstances Robertson de-
cides upon an expedition against the Chickamaugas — He sends
for Joseph Brown, who explores a route through the forest to
Nick-a jack, and then guides an army of five hundred and fifty
men to the destruction of the Chickamauga towns — Robertson's
report of the expedition to the governor — Dissatisfaction of the
Government, and resignation of Robertson as brigadier-general
— The justification of his course by Congress.
CHAPTER Xni.
Piomingo 293
His unexpected appearance on the Cumberland — Leads a body
of warriors to the help of General Wayne — The Creeks continue
their warfare — Attack on Valentine Sevier's station — Unpleas-
ant correspondence between Governor Blount and Secretary
Pickering— Hostilities between the Creeks and Chickasaws—
Robertson gives aid to Piomingo in arms and men — The Creeks
attack the Chickasaw capital, and are ignominiously repulsed —
Piomingo offers the Creeks peace, which they accept, but their
younger warriors treacherously invade the Chickasaw country —
They are again repulsed, and a genuine peace is then brought
about through the influence of Gayoso and Robertson.
CHAPTER XIV.
Conclusion 311
Efforts of Genet, the French minister, to arouse the West to
drive the Spaniards from Louisiana — George Rogers Clark
CONTENTS. xiii
speedily enlists over two thousand men for an expedition against
New Orleans — Carondelet, thoroughly alarmed, makes hasty
preparations for defense, and sends an emissary to Kentucky
to renew the attempt at disunion made in 1788— Remonstrance
of the Spanish minister against the hostile preparations in Ken-
tucky — Jefferson urges Governor Shelby to put down the move-
ment — Shelby's curious logic —Washington sends a special mes-
senger to Shelby, and the hostile expedition is abandoned— The
Spanish Cabinet, alarmed at the threatening attitude of Western
affairs, and the undisguised hostility of Shelby, now concludes a
treaty which opens the Mississippi to American commerce — A
general peace follows, in which the Cumberland colony is aston-
ishingly prosperous— Its enormous increase in fifty years— Rob-
ertson a private citizen, but still the patriarch of the settle-
ments— His friendship with Sevier, and influence over the Choc-
taws and Chickasaws— His residence among the Chickasaws at
a critical period, and last services to his country— His character
and death.
THE ADVANCE-GUARD
OP WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
CHAPTER I.
OIT THE OUTPOSTS.
The crisis was great in American affairs when the
first Western settlers took their way across the Allegha-
nies. The country was on the eve of the Revolution.
The revolted colonies were about to engage in a death-
grapple with the gigantic power across the ocean. Not
less than fifty thousand savage warriors beyond the
mountains were to be enlisted by that power to descend
upon the rear of the colonists, while its regular forces
should undertake the subjugation of the seaboard. In-
folded thus in the coils of an anaconda, it was expected
that the infant republic would be strangled in its cradle ;
and this result might have been realized, but for the
gathering of a small band of riflemen upon the banks of
the Watauga, along the western base of the Alleghanies.
That handful of riflemen beat back the rear assault. On
three distinct occasions they cut the anaconda coil in
2 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
which the British sought to enveloj^ and crush the strug-
gling colonies, and so securely did they hold the mount-
ain-passes that in all the war no savage hand ever broke
through to carry the torch and the tomahawk to the
seaboard settlements. Thus were they the immovable
rear-guard of the Eevolution. And they were more
than that.
They were the advance-guard of Western civiliza-
tion. They hewed out a pathway through the wilder-
ness for the uncounted millions who are to people the
western half of this continent ; and they did this while
exposed by day and by night, for more than twenty
years, to the assaults of a foe more crafty, cruel, and
treacherous than any ever encountered in modern times.
They plowed their fields with an armed sentry beside
them, and never went to their beds, or gathered to re-
ligious worship, without the trusty rifle within reach of
their hands. A race less heroic would have succumbed
to the hardships and dangers they encountered ; but in
them hardship merely developed endurance, and danger
a courage that was without fear, and swift to grapple with
enemies of twenty times their number. And they were
not merely hard toilers and brave fighters ; they were
thinking men, with clear ideas of civil policy, and so gen-
erally educated that not more than one of them among
a hundred has handed his name down to us signed with
a cross. No people without their peculiar qualities
could have been the pioneers of the hundred mill-
ions of freemen who are to occupy the valleys of the
O^ THE OUTPOSTS. 3
Mississippi and its tributaries before the close of another
centnrj.
Nothing more heroic is recorded of these joeople than
the migration of three hundred and eighty of their num-
ber from Watauga into the wilds of West Tennessee, under
the lead of James Robertson, in the winter of 1780. They
left the ease and security of a well-ordered settlement,
and, for a second time, encountered the perils of unknown
forests and rivers, to found a civilized community in the
heart of an untrodden wilderness, where they would be
surrounded by savage enemies, and three hundred miles
remote from the most westerly white settlement. It was
the coldest winter ever known on this continent; their
way would be beset by lurking enemies, and they far be-
3^ond all human succor ; yet they set out trusting only in
God, their own strong arms, and their unerring rifles.
One hundred and thirty of them were women and chil-
dren. Tliese, unable to endure the fatigue of the long
overland journey, were sent, under John Donelson and a
guard of thirty men, in boats down the Holston and Ten-
nessee ; while the remainder, under Robertson, followed
the five-hundred-mile trace which had been blazed by
hunters through the woods of Kentucky. Their destina-
tion was what was then known as the French Lick of the
Cumberland ; and it was expected that the party under
Robertson would arrive long enough in advance of the
other to have in readiness homes for the reception of the
coming women and children.
Robertson's party set out from Watauga about the
4 ADYANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
1st of November, 1779 ; but the route through the
woods soon became deep with snow, and, encumbered as
they were with cattle, and pack-horses laden with pro-
visions and farming-utensils, their progress was slow,
and they did not arrive at the Cumberland till Christ-
mas-day in 1779. They suffered much from cold on
the way, and found the river frozen so solid as to admit
of the passing over of their animals. Crossing at once,
they began building on the bluff that lines the southern
bank the fort and the half-score of log-houses which
were the nucleus of the present capital of Tennessee.
The place is beautiful for situation. The bluff
is of a height of from sixty to eighty feet, and at
its base flows a wide and winding river ; while away
at the south and southwest rises a chain of conical hills,
crowned then with towering oaks, walnuts, and poplars,
which had stood there for untold centuries. On both
banks of the river lies a valley about twenty miles in
width, its surface undulating, but ascending in long-
gradual slopes, here and there dotted with isolated
eminences. One of these, covering several acres, and
resembling a huge burial-mound, breaks abruptly but
symmetrically from the plain and overlooks all the sur-
rounding country. It is now the site of the Capitol
building, and is distant about half a mile from where
the fort was located. Other hills, rising still higher,
and at greater distances, seem designed by Nature for
fortifications, and events have fulfilled the design ; for
their crumbling breastworks bear to-day the names of
ON THE OUTPOSTS. 5
Negley, Morton, and Casino, which have become famous
in recent history.
All these hills were, at the period of which I write,
covered with thick forests, while on the bluffs, and along
the margin of two narrow streams which flow down from
the encircling hills, were wide brakes of cane, standing
ten and twenty feet high — excellent fodder for cattle, but
at the same time secure hiding-places for the settler's lurk-
ing enemies. Dense woods covered the country in every
direction, except around the fort, and the spring which
gave name to the place. There a few heaps of decaying
logs showed where the French hunters under Oharlville
had built their cabins in 1714 ; and the trodden cane
told of the countless herds of deer and buffalo which
had frequented the spring for innumerable ages. These
two facts had given the name of French Lick to the
locality. The soil was deep and fertile, and the land
abundantly watered ; and seen, when covered with foli-
age, the spot would have been most inviting to a settler.
But now it was everywhere clad in ice and snow — one
broad expanse of frozen magnificence, silent, cheer-
less, and desolate. Firm of purpose and stout of heart
must the men have been who could set about building
their homes in such an icy wilderness, encompassed as
it was by a cloud of savage enemies.
The fort erected, the two hundred and twenty-six set-
tlers already arrived organized themselves into a mili-
tary body, electing Eobertson colonel, John Donelson
lieutenant-colonel, Robert Lucas major, and George Free-
6 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
land, Isaac Bledsoe, James Lapier, Andrew Buchanan,
and John Rains, cajifcains. Donelson was still away
with the women and children ; but all of these men
were yet to write their names in a bloody history. Thus
organized, the settlers separated, to select locations and
prepare homes for their coming families. Twenty miles
of fertile country was within sight of the fort ; but,
having the pioneer's ideas of space, they spread for forty
miles up and down the Cumberland, and located their
lands around no less than eight *' stations" — stockades,
inclosing block-houses, and strong enough to resist as-
sault from any small band of Indians. In the event of
attack from a large body it was expected the settlers
would concentrate at the Bluff, where the fort was
intended to be strong enough to resist any number of
assailants that would be likely to come against it. Robert-
son, however, discouraged this scattering of the settlers.
"Keep in sight of the bluff," he said, ^^ where we can
see your signal-fire or hear your alarm-gun. The out-
lying stations will be the first to invite the savages ; and
if you are too far away we shall not know of an attack,
or be able to come to the rescue." It had been well for
the settlers if they had heeded these words of Robertson.
Some of the outlying stations were not only far away,
but hastily or carelessly constructed. Those built under
Robertson's own eye were patterned after the one erected
by John Sevier at "Watauga, which had withstood assault
from a strong force under the Cherokee king, Oconostota.
These were the one at the Bluff ; another at Eaton's,
ON THE OUTPOSTS. 7
two and a lialf miles away on the northern bank of the
river ; and a smaller one at Freeland's, a mile distant at
the west, and near the location selected by Robertson.
The stations erected, the settlers waited in anxious
suspense for the coming of their wives and children.
The three months allowed for their voyage had expired,
but the sound of their approach had not yet broken the
stillness of the river solitudes. Had they fallen victims
to the prowling savage, or perished of the cold that had
slain the deer, the catamount, and even the wild tur-
keys, with which the woods abounded ? The settlers
did not know and could not conjecture ; and for a full
month they went silently about, oppressed by harrow-
ing apprehensions. Thus it was till the close of April,
when spring had come, unlocking the river, and cloth-
ing the woods in an umbrageous beauty that was won-
derful. Then, as the sun arose one glorious morning,
a solitary four-pounder echoed along the Cumberland,
and a few hours thereafter the little fleet of forty scows,
canoes, and pirogues came to anchor under the walls of
Eaton's Station, amid such rejoicing as never before was
known in the wilderness. But all the immigrants had
not arrived in safety. Thirty-three had perished by
the way, and, of those who escaped, nine were more or
less wounded. Among those who had come through
were the wife and five children of Eobertson ; the
mother of the late Hon. Bailie Peyton ; and Donelson,
and his son John, and daughter Rachel, who subse-
quently became the wife of Andrew Jackson.
8 ADYANOE-GUAPwD OF WESTERiN" CIVILIZATION.
The voyage has no parallel in modern history. Nearly
two thousand miles they had journeyed, in frail boats,
upon unknown and dangerous rivers, never before navi-
gated by a white man. The country through which
they passed was infested by hostile Indians, and their
way had been over foaming whirlpools and dangerous
shoals thirty miles in extent, where for days they had run
the gantlet and been exposed to the fire of the whole
nation of Chickamaugas, the fiercest Indian tribe on this
continent. For more than a month they were unable
to move because of the intense cold, and one of their
number was frozen to death on the passage. Of the
other dead, one was drowned, one was burned by the
Indians, and the rest fell by the rifle and tomahawk of
the savages. The flight of the Tartar tribe across the
steppes of Asia, Xenophon's famous anabasis of the
Ten Thousand, or Kane's heroic struggle for life in the
arctic regions, is not a more thrilling story than the
simple narrative of this expedition, which John Donel-
son has left to his descendants. In it he says the voyage
was "intended by God's permission" ; clearly not a soul
could have come safely through it but by God's special
providence.
Thus, amid ice, and snow, and the intense cold of
1780, was planted the first civilized settlement in the
valley of the Mississippi, where soon will be the center
of American population. The settlers, as I have said,
were in the heart of a wide wilderness, and surrounded
by hostile savages. They were encroachers upon the
ON THE OUTPOSTS. 9
favorite hunting-ground of the Indians, especially valued
by them for the abundant game that subsisted on the
luxuriant vegetation of the great natural park which
stretches from the Cumberland to the Ohio, and is now
familiarly known as the "blue-grass region." Moreover,
their position was peculiarly exposed to incursions from
the savages. It was accessible by water from the most
distant tribes. Descending navigation could bring upon
it from the Ohio and Mississippi the canoe - fleets of
the northern nations ; while down the Tellico, the Hi-
wassee, and the Tennessee could come nearly ten thou-
sand Creeks and Cherokees, and, uniting at the Bluff
before the whites had erected their forts and stockades,
these Indians, twenty thousand strong, might in one
night sweep the settlers from existence. All the savage
tribes were now in friendship with one another, and in
alliance with Great Britain. They knew every move-
ment of the whites, and their wildest energies and
fiercest passions were aroused by this invasion of the
red man's Eden, which they justly regarded as the sig-
nal for their own expulsion. "Why, then, did they not
descend upon the settlers and annihilate them before
they were in a position to defend themselves ?
They intended to have done so. In his stronghold
at Detroit, the British Governor, Hamilton, had planned
their extermination. "We will make wolf -bait of
them," he said; "we will drive every rebel beyond the
Alleghanies ! " He had concerted for a universal upris-
ing of the savages, and appointed a general gathering of
10 ADYANCE-GUAED OF WESTERN CIYILIZATION-.
the tribes at the mouth of the Tennessee, whence they
were to descend upon the entire border. But George
Eogers Clark came upon him at Vincennes, clapped
him into irons, and he was now safely lodged in the
jail at Williamsburg, Virginia. Thus ingloriously ter-
minated the bloody career of the ruthless British
governor.
However, the Indians were not without able leaders,
like Oconostota, who had shown great military capacity.
.They would have made the onslaught, even after the
capture of Hamilton, had they not encountered a greater
enemy than Eobertson, greater even than Sevier, whom
they regarded as well-nigh invincible. Sevier had para-
lyzed the Creeks and Cherokees by the capture of their
arms and ammunition at Chickamauga, but the north-
ern tribes had been well provided by Hamilton. They
planned to let Sevier alone, and to fall in overpowering
numbers upon Robertson. But " the stars in their
courses fought against Sisera," and the elements did
battle for the handful of adventurous white men shiver-
ing there upon the Cumberland. The cold, which set
in during December with such severity as to give Eob-
ertson anxious thoughts about the absent women and
children, destroyed the game, and imprisoned the sav-
ages within their wigwams. There, half -clad and alto-
gether starved, they perished by hundreds. It was more
than they could do to keep their own souls and bodies
together, and they left the settlers unmolested. Thus
the one auspicious moment passed away from the sav-
ON THE OUTPOSTS. H
ages. Thenceforth the faith, and firmness, and heroism
of Kobertson would suflBce to hold that lone outpost in
the wilderness. In these events, as they gradually dis-
closed themselves, Kobertson saw the hand of Provi-
dence. "God is on our side," he said to his comrades.
"We will not fear, for mightier is he that is with us
than all who can come against us."
The women and children of the settlers were no
sooner domiciled in their rude abodes than Robertson
called all the men together to the Bluff to settle upon
a form of civil government. They were within the
territory of North Carolina, but seven hundred miles
from its seat of government, and separated from it
by more than three hundred miles of forest, which
was without a human inhabitant. Of necessity, there-
fore, the settlers had to be self-governing, as well as self-
defending, and in every way an independent commu-
nity. Accordingly, a "compact of government" was
drawn up, and twelve men were elected to administer
it, Eobertson being chosen president of the colony.
This document was found in 1846 in an old trunk
which had belonged to one of the original twelve, and
it is now in possession of the Tennessee Historical So-
ciety. It is a remarkable paj^er, so comprehensive, so
wise in its provisions, and so exactly adapted to the
circumstances of the settlement, that it alone would
rank Robertson as an able organizer and statesman. It
is dated May 1, 1780, and was signed by two hundred and
fifty-six settlers, all but one of whom wrote their names
12 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
in good, fair English. There is here space for but one
of its paragraphs, which is as follows :
" The well-being of this country depends, under di-
vine Proyideuce, on unanimity of sentiment and concur-
rence in measures ; and as clashing interests and opin-
ions, unless under some restraint, will most certainly
produce confusion, discord, and almost certain ruin, so
we think it our duty to associate, and hereby form our-
selves into one society for the benefit of present and
future settlers ; and, until the full and proper exercise of
the laws of our country can be in use and the powers of
government exerted among us, we do most solemnly and
sacredly declare and promise each other that we will
faithfully and punctually adhere to, perform, and abide
by this our association, and at all times, if need be,
compel, by our united force, a due obedience to these
our rules and regulations."
The settlers now went to work to plant their corn
and provide themselves with food for the coming season.
Trees were felled or girdled, ground was broken up,
crops were sown and planted, and soon was heard every-
where the cheerful voice of the husbandman. Game,
too, speedily made its appearance ; deer, bear, and buf-
falo came into the forest, and flocks of wild turkeys at
times almost darkened the atmosphere. These last, with
the wild rabbit, came so near the dwellings as to be an
easy prey to the settler ; and it was seldom that he had
not game upon his dinner-table. The larger animals kept
at greater distances, and were usually hunted by parties
ON TEE OUTPOSTS. 13
of from ten to twenty ; for, though the few Delawares
who had appeared about the stations had seemed friend-
ly, it was not deemed prudent to venture far from the
forts, except in bodies large enough to meet any rov-
ing band of Indians. Such expeditions were, however,
often undertaken, for the meat of the bear, deer, and
buffalo, dried and jerked, made excellent provision for
the coming winter. The game was abundant ; but the
exploits of some of these hunting-parties read altogether
like romance. One is said to have gone some twenty
miles up one of the branches of the Cumberland, and to
have soon returned with its canoes laden with ninety
deer, one hundred and fifty bears, and seventy-five buffa-
loes. Thus were the larders of the settlers filled to over-
flowing.
Most civilized men have tasted of venison, but few
have feasted upon the flesh of the bear or the buffalo ;
and yet we have the word of these pioneers that buffalo-
tongue and bear-steak are more delicious viands — of far
more delicate flavor and juicy richness — than the haunch
of the deer. And bear's oil ! — according to them, butter
is not to be compared with it, and this, perhaps, shows
that the Anglo-Saxon, in a state of nature, is very near
of kin to the Esquimau. But much depends upon the
cooking, and there were cooks among these people — fa-
mous housewives, who could brown a hoe-cake or broil a
bear-steak in a manner fit for a ruler. And hoe-cakes
were yet to be had among them ; for, owing to the provi-
dent forethought of Robertson, who, against their com-
14 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
ing, had the previous season planted and harvested a
liberal crop of corn, they still had an abundance of that
grain, which at that time was so scarce in all the Western
settlements as to command one hundred and sixty-five
dollars per bushel at Boonesborough.
Thus the settlers abode in peace, abundance, and
primitive simplicity, their days given to cheerful toil,
their nights to social and intellectual enjoyment, while
they gathered around the huge fireplaces of their rude
forts, feeling as secure behind their walls of logs as ever
baron in his rock-built fortress of the middle ages. On
such occasions they would listen to Eobertson or some of
the older men as they read from a choice book, or dis-
cussed the affairs of the settlement, or the unhappy fate
of their friends over the mountains, who were still wrest-
ling in a death-grip with the mighty power across the
ocean. Or perhaps the fiddler would be among them,
and he would strike up some old-fashioned tune which,
getting into the legs of the younger people, would set
them upon the puncheon floor, to dance away till the
stars grew pale in the light of the morning.
But what is that solitary gun sounding so faint and
far away in the still evening twilight ? The dwellers in
the fort pause and listen. ^^ Some one is late in winging
his turkey for to-morrow's dinner," is the general opin-
ion ; but "No," says Robertson. '^ A white man does
not fire with so light a charge of powder. It is an In-
dian gun. The rascals are around us ! "
The gates were closed, and a sentry was kept all
ON THE OUTPOSTS. 15
night on the lookout. But no alarm occurred. A still-
ness as of death hung over the hills and the adjacent
forest. It was the calm which j^recedes a storm. In
the morning the gates were unlocked, and, rifle in hand,
a party of thirty went out to scour the undergrowth and
canebrakes. They found no trace of savage footsteps
around the fort, or within half a mile of it in any direc-
tion ; but it was not long before a shrill whistle echoed
among the trees, and, following the sound, the settlers
gathered to one who had struck the trail of a large
body of Indians. There was no mistaking the sign —
the print of the moccasin, pointing forward straight
as a rifle-barrel. The party numbered five hundred — too
many for a hunting-party. Should the thirty follow
on their trail, or return to the fort, and wait there the
coming of the savages ? But the Indians were headed
north, toward Mansker's, one of the weaker and more
remote of the stations. If come upon unawares, its
occupants would be butchered without warning. So it
was that Robertson in a few moments said, *' Forward ! "
Silently, with bated breath and muffled footsteps,
their ears awake to the lighest sound, and their eyes
ranging the matted undergrowth, the little party moved
on over the trail of the savages till, at the end of
another half-mile, they came suddenly upon a prostrate
body. It was that of a young man named Joseph Hay,
one of their comrades. He had been scalped and horri-
bly mangled. Silently they gathered round the body,
and then in low tones Eobertson gave his orders. Two
16 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
by two, about one half of the party, should set out at
once, to warn all people at the outlying stations to
come to the Bluff or Eaton's Station, while he and the
rest bore the body back to the fort, and gave it suit-
able burial. This they did, and it was the first inter-
ment in the cemetery at Nashville.
Though most of the settlers had been reared upon
the border, very few of them had ever seen the remains
of one who had been scalped and mutilated by the sav-
ages. Sevier's custom of carrying war into the enemy's
country had kept such sights of blood away from Wa-
tauga ; and now a thrill of indignant horror ran through
the colony as one after another came to gaze upon
the mangled body of the unfortunate youth, who had
thus fallen their first victim to savage atrocity. The
settlers were aflame with excitement. Eapidly they
came in from the outlying stations, and loudly they
clamored to be led against the enemy. But Robertson
counseled caution and prudence. Behind the walls of
the forts they were in absolute security, but a disaster
in the open field might endanger the whole settlement ;
and they did not know the strength of the enemy. He
was as much aroused as the others, but he never allowed
passion to override reason. He counseled them to watch
and wait ; but, should occasion require, he would move
with celerity and destruction.
The Indians made no general attack on any of the
forts. Their tactics were to surround the stations, cut
off such individuals and small parties as ventured be-
ON THE OUTPOSTS. I7
yond rifle-shot of the stockades, and to capture and
drive off the cattle and horses of the settlers. These
animals were indispensable to the whites. Without
horses the men could not plow the land or harvest
their crops ; and without milk the women could not
enjoy their spruce-gum tea, or indulge once a week in
the supreme luxury of a bowl of coffee. One cloudy
night a large body of savages descended upon the Bluff,
and drove off every one of the horses. So little noise
was made, that the sentinels at the fort did not hear a
footfall — merely a slight commotion among the animals
of which they thought nothing. The loss was not dis-
covered until morning. Then, taking only Andrew
Buchanan and eighteen others — lest he should too much
weaken the garrison — Eobertson followed on the trail of
the marauders. Forty miles he went through the path-
less forest, alive with enemies, and at last overtook the
band, numbering a hundred and more, as they were
going into camp on the bank of Duck Eiver. *'Give
them one fire," he said to his men, '^'then club your
rifles, and down upon them ! " Taken by surprise, the
Indians made no resistance. A dozen were shot as they
fled ; the others scattered to the four winds, leaving
their own and the settlers' horses behind them.
The Indians continued these depredations, and it
became a matter of dispute among the captains who
should head a pursuit ; for each one was eager to go,
and all insisted that Eobertson's life was of too much
value to be hazarded on such expeditions. Buchanan
18 ADVAlSrCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
was the first to lead another party, and then Lapier ;
and both returned successfully. The latter was a man
of reckless courage, rollicking humor, and so rhythmical
an ear that he acquired the title of the poet of the
backwoods. On this occasion he claimed to have killed
a prominent chieftain.
"The red-skin imp,
I made him limp,"
was what he said, as he recounted the incidents of the
expedition on the occasion of his wedding at the fort, a
few days afterward. For there was '^eating and drink-
ing, marrying and giving in marriage " even during the
bloody carnival that was then going on along the Cum-
berland.
This was the first wedding in Nashville, and, as no
clergyman had yet come into the settlement, Robertson
oflBciated at the ceremony. It was a joyous time, and
unique in its primitive simplicity. An old chronicle
says of it : ^^ There was pretty. much of a feast at this
wedding, and a most cheerful company. They had no
wine or ardent spirits ; they had no wheat or corn-
bread, no cakes, no confectionaries ; but they had any
quantity of fresh and dried meat, buffalo-tongue, bear-
meat, venison-saddle, and venison-ham, broiled, stewed,
fried, and jerked, and, as a great delicacy for the ladies,
some roasting-ears, or ears of green corn roasted, or
boiled, or made into succotash."
Meanwhile the bloody work went on, but I need not
ON THE OUTPOSTS. 19
recount its incidents. It is enough to say that, out of
those two hundred and fixty-six men, thirty-nine, one
by one, in the short period of sixty days, perished. In
fact, during the entire year only one of the settlers died
a death natural to humanity. But what strikes us with
most wonder is that, in the midst of this human holo-
caust, there was light-hearted gayety throughout the
settlements. These men seem to have been insensible to
fear, and to have delighted in danger. With ready
alacrity, and at desperate odds, they rushed into battle
with the savages. Steady and undaunted in defense, they
were impetuous and irresistible in attack. With the
** Tennessee yell " they had learned of Sevier, they would
swoop like a whirlwind upon the enemy, never asking or
expecting quarter. It was always a life-and-death strug-
gle. Never did one submit to be captured. Not a soli-
tary case of cowardice is reported ; but there are num-
berless instances of individual bravery, of disinterested
friendship, and self-sacrificing devotion, that will com-
pare with the most heroic achievements in history. In
the most perilous crises there were always bold spirits
ready to break the cordon of savage fire, to secure food
for a hungry garrison. And the heroism of the men
infected the women and children, and even the negro
servants, as was instanced when Somerset, a slave of
Colonel Donelson, swam the swollen Cumberland, and
ran the gantlet of a hundred Indian rifles, to bring
rescue to his young master, who had been surprised and
surrounded at Clover Bottom.
20 ADYANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
But a foe more to be dreaded than the Indians was
soon upon the settlers. It was starvation — a lingering
death behind the walls of their log-fortresses. An un-
precedented freshet came in the Cumberland, almost
converting the Bluff into an island, and submerging and
destroying all the crops along the river. The grain
around the inland stations had been left to waste when
they were deserted by the settlers, and now it was cer-
tain death for any party, however strong, to venture out
on a hunting expedition. Added to this, their supply
of powder was well-nigh exhausted. In these circum-
stances the stoutest-hearted began to quail, and, on one
pretext or another, to slip away from the settlements.
They could face the savages, but not this foe with hol-
low eye, and gaunt frame, and sallow visage. Out of
the two hundred and seventeen who had been left by
the tomahawk of the Indians, only one hundred and
thirty-four answered to the roll-call at the three stations
in N'ovember, 1780. Even Donelson and Kains aban-
doned their posts, though only for a time, to convey
their familes to a place of safety in the older settle-
ments. That done, they returned, and again cast in
their lot with their comrades.
It was a time of anxious thought and gloomy fore-
boding when the remaining settlers came together to the
Bluff to decide whether they should abandon the post
or stand their ground against the many perils by which
they were environed. The boldest among them were
wavering and disheartened, and all eyes were turned
ON THE OUTPOSTS. 21
upon their leader, when with stern faces they gathered
around him in their log-fortress. Then it is reported
that he arose, and, slowly and deliberately, like one
who weighed his every word, and knew that life or
death hung upon his sentences, he addressed them. He
admitted that their numbers were few, their defenses
weak, their ammunition well-nigh spent, their provisions
all but exhausted, and they were encompassed by savage
enemies, who only delayed attack till starvation should
so enfeeble them that they would be an easy prey to
overwhelming numbers ; but, he added, in a tone of
inflexible resolution, ^*My station is here, and here I
shall stay if every one of you deserts me ! "
The spirit that spoke through the man gave new
heart to his desponding comrades. With one accord
they all declared they would remain, and meet with him
whatever was before them. Then Eobertson volunteered
to himself break through the Indian lines into Ken-
tucky to secure the niuch -needed ammunition. One of
his own sons, Isaac Bledsoe, his trusted friend, and
a faithful negro servant, accompanied him. Thus, as
once before on the Watauga, did Kobertson cast himself
into the breach to save his fellow-settlers.
At once the four set out on the perilous expedition.
It was a trip of a couple of months through a trackless
forest. If they succeeded in passing the Indian lines,
they could scarcely hope their trail would escape the
notice of the savages. Without doubt they would be
followed ; and they might be overtaken and waylaid by
22 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN OIYILIZATION.
overwhelming numbers. This was the prospect before
Eobertson. Behind him he was leaving a wife, soon to
become a mother, and exposed to innumerable dangers.
He might perish by the way, or he might return to find
her slaughtered by the savages. Truly these were times
that "tried men's souls," and it was well for Western
civilization that there were here heroic souls equal to
such ordeals.
The little party passed the Indian lines in safety, and
in due time arrived at Harrod's Station, now Harrods-
burg, Kentucky. Here they received the first tidings in
many months of the war upon the seaboard. King's
Mountain had been fought, and Cornwallis was fleeing
toward Charleston. *^ Both Eobertson and I," said Bled-
soe, "were a foot taller when we heard of the glorious
work of Sevier and Shelby. ' If they can so handle the
British and Tories,' we said to one another, ^ can we not
whip the Indians in the backwoods ? ' "
At Harrod's they could obtain no ammunition, so
they pushed on without delay to Boonesborough. Boone
was an old friend of Robertson, and he cheerfully divided
with him his stock of powder and lead ; but his supply
was scanty, and not enough to last the Cumberland set-
tlers through the winter. Bledsoe, therefore, set out at
once for Watauga, where he hoped to obtain full supplies
from Sevier ; and if not there of him, then of Colonel
Preston, on the head-waters of the Holston, in Virginia.
At Boone's Robertson met George Rogers Clark, and
the result of their interview was of quite as much
ON THE OUTPOSTS. 23
importance to the settlers as the fresh supply of am-
munition.
Robertson had for some time known that the Indians
by whom the Cumberland settlements were beleaguered,
were not his old enemies the Creeks and Cherokees, but
the Choctaws and Chickasaws. They had been provoked
to hostilities in consequence of the erection by Clark of
Fort Jefferson on their territory, about twenty miles be-
low the mouth of the Ohio ; and now Clark consented to
abandon this fort, if thereby he could aid Eobertson in
making peace with the Chickasaws. This much accom-
plished, Eobertson set out with his son, his faithful serv-
ant, and a pack-horse laden with ammunition, on his
homeward journey. His way, through the open prairies
of Kentucky and the canebrakes of Tennessee, was
again attended with constant peril. He crossed fre-
quently the trails of the Indians, and on several occasions
came upon their half-extinguished camp-fires ; but he en-
countered none of the savages. His going and coming
had thus been in entire safety ; and this he always spoke
of as most remarkable, and due altogether to the watch-
ful care of an overruling Providence.
He was ferried over the river to the Bluff shortly
after noon on the 15th of January, 1781, and, seeing his
approach, every occupant of the fort came out to meet
him. Old and young lined the river's bank, and gave
him a welcome such as seldom has been accorded to
any of the most famous heroes in history. Robertson
was their deliverer, the Moses who was leading them
24 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN 0IVILIZATI0:N".
througli the wilderness, and now for the first time he
realized the strong hold he had on the affections of every
man, woman, and child in the settlement. Apparently
stolid, he had a most sensitive nature, and this demon-
stration touched him deeply. It was, he afterward said,
compensation for all the hardship and danger he had en-
countered.
His wife and children were a mile away at Freeland's
Station ; and, leaving his pack-animal at the Bluff, he
soon remounted his horse, and rode off through the
woods to meet them. Here again the news of his arrival
had preceded him, and he was joyfully greeted by Major
Lucas and the families of the ten settlers who had their
homes in the station. While they plied him with ques-
tions, he allowed ^' his powder-horn to be passed around, as
generous lovers of maccaboy are pleased to see their snuff-
boxes serve the company " ; and he also suffered his shot-
pouch to be nearly emptied in a like manner. These
things were of priceless value to the garrison. Before his
arrival there was not a single bullet or an ounce of pow-
der at this station.
Kobertson's wife lay on a rude bed in an inner cham-
ber, and by her side was a boy four days old — the first
white child born at Nashville. It is not many years
since he died, a venerable and venerated patriarch, the
sole survivor of those dark days upon the Cumberland.
From Major Lucas and the others Robertson learned
how it had fared with the settlers in his absence. They
had been wonderfully guarded. Lucas had kept the
ON THE OUTPOSTS. 25
scout Castleman and a few others out as spies, and
from time to time they had reported Indians about, but
on no occasion had the savages come dangerously near
the stations. The cattle, too, had been unmolested, and
the supply of cane which had been laid in had kept
them in reasonably good condition. Food had been
scanty, but the settlers had eked out their supplies with
the chestnuts and white and black walnuts that grew in
abundance about the stations, and on such game as could
be caught near by with their rude traps and dead-falls.
Not' an ounce of powder had been expended. Their
small stock had been carefully hoarded at the Bluff
against an assault from the Indians. They had been in
constant apprehension of attack, but the winter had not
been without the usual enjoyments. The peoj^le had
gathered together of evenings as was their custom, the
song and the dance had gone round, and there had been
a cracking of jokes as well as a cracking of walnuts.
Their great and constant anxiety had been for Robert-
son, and, now that he was safe, and they had once more
a plentiful supply of powder, let the red-skins come on !
They would meet a bloody welcome.
Then the settlers plied Robertson for news from the
seaboard, and he told them of Sevier, and Shelby, and
Campbell, and Cleveland ; how they had bagged the
British at King's Mountain, and sent Cornwallis to the
right about southward. Nearly all of them had fought
under Sevier, and now they longed to be again in the
thick of the fight, sharing the danger and glory of their
26 ADYANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN" CIVILIZATION.
old commander. Lucas had been one of Sevier's cap-
tains, and a member of the first government at Watauga.
He had been with Sevier on many a hard-fought field,
but now, in a few short hours, he was to fall inglori-
ously from an Indian bullet.
The evening wore away in pleasant conversation, and
it was late at night when the settlers separated to their
several cabins. There were seven or eight of them in
the station, surrounded by a palisade of pointed logs set
upright, and furnished with bastions to render more
effective the fire of the small force of defenders. The
entrance to the stockade was closed by a stout gate,
fastened on the inside by a heavy chain. No sentry
was on duty, for no danger was apprehended. The
scouts who had come in at nightfall had seen no signs
of Indians in the vicinity.
All had gone to their beds except Eobertson, who
sat by a smoldering fire in the room where his wife
and young child were sleeping. He was immersed in
thought, and unconsciously stirring the embers ; but all
his senses were alert, and rendered keener than usual
by his recent experiences in the forest. Suddenly, about
midnight, he heard a slight movement of the chain at
the gateway. Springing to his feet, and looking through
a port-hole, he saw in the clear moonlight a hundred
savages pouring into the inclosure. He seized his rifle,
took deliberate aim, and their leader fell, mortally
wounded. Then, as he reloaded, he shouted, " In-
dians ! " Aroused by the shout and the firing, every
ON THE OUTPOSTS. 27
man in the fort was instantly upon his feet and jore-
pared for the encounter. As Eobertson fired a second
time, the others poured in a volley ; and then the In-
dians raised the terrific war-whoop, and discharged their
rifles upon the cabins. For a few moments it rained
bullets. The cabin occupied by Major Lucas and Eob-
ertson's servant had been but recently constructed, and
the chinks between the logs were not yet filled, as was
customary. Seeing this, the savages opened upon it a
hot fire, and Lucas rashly rushed out to secure better
shelter. He was shot down as he opened the door, and
the faithful negro, too, who had accompanied Eobertson
on his perilous journey, was riddled with bullets. In
a loud voice Eobertson animated the men and directed
the firing, charging them to take deliberate aim, and to
keep from before the port-holes when loading. The din
awoke the garrison at the Bluff, and soon the solitary
swivel at the fort announced to the besieged that succor
was coming. Hearing this, and finding it impossible to
force the strong log-houses, the Indians withdrew to the
outside of the stockade, and there wasted their powder
upon the empty cabin from which Lucas had so rashly
issued. In the morning not less than five hundred bul-
lets were dug from its walls and embrasures. The be-
sieged fired only six rounds to a man, for want of am-
munition ; but though, after their custom, the Indians
bore away their dead, the numerous trails of blood
showed that the opportune supply of powder and lead
had done terrible execution. It is easy to conceive what
28 ADYANCE-GUAKD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
would have been the fate of the settlers at this station
had not Eobertson arrived just when he did with his
pouch well filled with shot and powder. In the history
of these peoj^le are numerous occasions when they were
saved from destruction by some such fortunate and un-
looked-for circumstance.
This was Eobertson's last fight with the Chickasaws.
By some means, not recorded, he obtained a personal in-
terview with Piomingo, their head chieftain, and suc-
ceeded not only in making peace with him, but in de-
taching both the Chickasaws and Choctaws from their
alliance with Great Britain. This chief was a noble
character, and a friendship then sprang up between him
and Robertson that lasted through their lives, and was of
essential service to the settlers in their subsequent war-
fare with the Creeks and Cherokees.
At peace with the Indians, the settlers now looked
forward to planting their crops in security. They no
longer feared to venture into the forest, and, with their
guns again loaded, they soon had an abundance of game
upon their tables ; and, when Spring came, they prepared
to plant their corn, in full assurance of a peaceful har-
vest.
CHAPTER 11.
A KAIK OF FIRE.
The leader of this advance-guard of Western civiliza-
tion was a man who, so far as I know, has had no exact
counterpart in American history. He was Miles Stand-
ish, without his Puritanism — John Brown, without his
fanaticism. He ^^ walked by faith and not by sight";
and yet he was possessed of the strongest worldly wisdom
— viewing facts without any glamour of the imagina-
tion ; but, nevertheless, undertaking and achieving pro-
jects which to cool reason would seem absolutely chi-
merical.
At the date at which this history opens he was thirty-
eight years of age, having been born in Brunswick
County, Virginia, in 1742. He was of Scotch-Irish par-
entage, and had inherited the sturdy qualities, together
with the rigid Presbyterianism, of his ancestors. His
father was of the yeoman class — cultivating with his own
hands a small homestead — and Robertson himself had
been brought up to the severest manual labor, with little
time or opportunity to acquire more than a very meager
book education. His biographer, Putnam, states that
30 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
lie was taught to read by his wife ; but this is denied by
his descendants. However, it is certain that he knew
little of any books except the Bible, and the few religious
works which in that day were in wide circulation in the
colonies. But, if he had imbibed few of other men's
thoughts, he had been closely attentive to his own. He
was possessed of the keenest observation, the coolest,
most dispassionate judgment, and a certain rectitude of
mind which enabled him to see things in their right rela-
tions ; and whatever he had of mental equipment was
genuine, and altogether unborrowed. What he did
know, he knew beyond all cavil or peradventure ; and
the man who does so is always a strong character.
From his youth up he had been in the habit of steady
and patient reflection ; and hence he had acquired a
larger stock of ideas than many men of much wider
knowledge. His mind was broad and comprehensive,
and yet it revolved in a narrow sphere — acting, however,
in that sphere with peculiar power and intensity. To
the casual observer his prominent trait would appear to
be strong, practical common sense ; but there can be no
question that it was in reality faith — unquestioning reli-
ance on an overruling Power, who had, he thought,
selected him to be the forerunner of Western civilization.
To this conviction he had come when, ten years before,
his life had been saved in a most singular manner, as I
have elsewhere related ; * and he expressed it to Sevier
* " The Rear-Guard of the Revolution," pp. 47, 48.
A RAm OF FIRE. 31
when he attempted to dissuade him from this last peril-
ous plunge into a far-off wilderness. ^' We are," he said
to him, " the advance-guard of civilization, and our way
is across the continent." Remarkable words to have
been spoken a hundred years ago, by a man hemmed in
by uncounted enemies, and when the Mississippi River,
and all the vast region beyond, were in the hands of a
hostile power. This phrase, and another — ^'Man pro-
poses, but God disposes " — which was ever onhis J^is,
afford, I think, a key to the character of Kot>iftgen.
Nothing but such a faith could have enabled him
to so cheerfully meet the hardships, privations, and
perils which he encountered in planting civilization at
that remote outpost on the Cumberland. He counted
consequences, and when possible avoided danger ; but,
when peril had to be met, he stood absolutely undis-
mayed, alike by the cold that destroyed the settler's
game, the floods which swept away his crops, and the
savage horde who encircled his home and smote him
down whenever he ventured beyond the gateway of his
log station.
But, though in Robertson's character there was not a
trace of cant or fanaticism, there was blended with his
faith a trifle of superstition ; and I think it is so with
most men who like him live very near to Nature. They
may believe in the reign of law — that it governs alike in
the natural and the spiritual world — but they not only
see God in Nature, they sensibly /ee/ the underlying and
overruling Mind that moves the pulses of creation.
32 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
Hence, they often attribute to things whicli have the
simplest natural origin a special significance, as if they
were a direct utterance of the Deity. It was so with the
ancients who saw in " the bow in the clouds " an express
token of the Infinite Mercy, while we know that the nat-
ural refraction of light hung it there ages before man
was here to hope, and to fear, and to act his little part in
the great drama of the universe. Eobertson recognized
a benevolent Overruler, who ^^providently caters for the
sparrow " ; but he believed that Providence brings about
its special ends in the intelligent universe by natural
means — by acting on our minds, and enlightening them
to a right use of men, events, and natural elements.
And yet he was not enough of *^a scientist" to draw a
precise line between the natural and the supernatural —
between those phenomena whose laws we know, and
those whose laws we do not know. To him all things
that exist are natural, and Nature as directly moved by
the indwelling Divine will as is the human body by the
indwelling human will. So it was that, when he awoke
one morning during the spring following the attack on
Freeland's Station, and beheld the earth draped in a
sleeted glory almost too dazzling to look upon, he lelt
that God was visibly present, and that he had clad all
Nature in insufferable splendor expressly to assure him
and his compatriots that his power was everywhere —
even over his sore-distressed children pent up there in
those distant solitudes.
It was a spectacle such as civilized man has seldom
A RAm OF FIRE. 33
seen, and never except in a wide forest. Tlie whole
earth was bedecked with diamonds. The mighty oaks
east of the river, the dense cedars at the west, the encir-
cling hills at the south — all were one mass of glitter-
ing radiance. The tallest trees were bowed by its
weight, the slenderest twigs sparkled in its glory. The
vines which festooned the tangled forest, swayed by the
wind, dropped a spray of brilliants. Every sprig, every
leaf, every branch, shone with dazzling flames, and the
central hill was crowned with a diadem of jewels, such
as never king counted among his treasures. The world
of stars seemed fallen upon the earth, and trembling,
blazing, flashing there in coruscant light. It was a
living flame, a luminous flood, a heaving ocean of luster
and loveliness, in which the everlasting beauty was mir-
rored in such a glory as '^ never yet was on land or
sea." Well might Eobertson say to his beleaguered
companions, ^^ Come, and see the works of God —
his wonders on the earth ! Will he who clothes dead
Nature in such a glory, forget us, his living chil-
dren ? "
But all this glory vanished with the setting sun. A
south wind blew, a storm-cloud gathered, a beating-rain
came down, and the sj^lendor of the morning was lost
in the gloom of a night that was dark, and drear, and
desolate. So was it in the lives of the settlers. The
transient gleam of hope which they saw in this grand
natural phenomenon was soon obscured in a storm of
war, in which nearly one half of them were smitten
34 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
with death, and the life of Robertson himself was saved
only as it were by miracle.
The storm broke in the following April. The set-
tlers had begun to plough their land, and were looking
forward to a peaceful harvest, when the scouts came in
with reports of "Indians." Only small parties had
been seen, and they seemed to be engaged in hunting ;
but it was soon discovered that they were Cherokees,
and this led Eobertson to enjoin upon his comrades
more than ordinary caution. He himself was stationed
at the Bluff, where the fort at this time was manned by
only thirty-five men, the rest being divided between
the two other fortified stations. All these forts were
modeled after the one built by Sevier at Watauga.
This one consisted of a log-house of two stories, with
bastions and port-holes ; adjoining which were a dozen
other log-cabins, the whole inclosed with stout palisades.
Over the wide gateway was a lookout station, whence a
view could be had of the country for many miles around.
The buildings were on elevated ground, and below them
were bottom-lands covered with cane, and at the north-
west was a dense growth of privet-bushes.
A sentry was posted on the lookout station nightly,
but often others came out during his watch to see that
he was properly vigilant. Thus it was that about one
o'clock, on the morning of the 2d of April, Jonas Meni-
fee clambered to the roof of a block-house, and de-
tected an Indian spying around the buildings. He
leveled his rifle and fired at the savage, who disap-
A EAIN OF FIRE. 35
peared among the privet-buslies ; but between dawn and
daylight three others came within range of the fort
and fired at the man on the lookout station. Then
they leisurely reloaded their guns, as if to defy the gar-
rison. Every soul in the fort was by this time aroused,
and, though they felt sure the Indians were merely the
advance of a larger body, they determined to pursue
them, as had been customary on like occasions.
A party of twenty-one, including Robertson, mounted
their horses and charged down the hill upon the In-
dians. When they had arrived near the privet-bushes,
about three hundred savages arose from ambush in their
front and poured a volley upon them. The whites dis-
mounted to give battle, when they heard a war-whoop
in their rear, and saw a still larger body of Indians rise
from ambush and glide between them and the fort.
Thus were the twenty-one surrounded by not less than
seven hundred ! Fortunately, the horses of the whites,
terrified at the firing, had broken away and galloped
off toward the hill on which now stands the Capitol ;
and some of the Indians, in their eagerness to capture
the animals, had set off in pursuit, thus leaving a gap
in the line which inclosed the settlers. Through this
opening the whites fled, bearing off their wounded.
The Indians soon saw their mistake, and began to close
down again upon the little party of settlers. The de-
struction of the whole seemed inevitable, when a fortu-
nate occurrence saved them.
The remainder of the slender garrison stood at the
36 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION".
port-holes ; but the women of the fort, gun or axe in
hand, had gathered about the gateway, where also were
crowded the dogs of the settlers — fifty large, ferocious
animals, trained to hunt wild beasts and Indians, and
now aroused to fury by the shouts and sounds of the out-
side conflict. The wife of Eobertson had mounted to the
lookout station, and stood there, rifle in hand, intently
watching the rapid events on which hung the life of her
husband. She saw the stampede of the horses ; the
break in the Indian line ; the wild flight of the wiiites ;
and then the swift closing down upon them of their sav-
age assailants. Never did woman experience a more in-
tense straining of her heart-strings ; but even in this ter-
rible moment this brave woman did not lose her self-
possession. *^Open the gates !" she cried to the sentry
below — " open the gates, and set the dogs upon them ! "
Instantly the order was obeyed, and the ferocious ani-
mals flew at the nearest body of Indians with — says the
old chronicle — "a, persistence and fury never before wit-
nessed." In self-defense the Indians were obliged to
halt and draw their tomahawks upon the infuriated ani-
mals. This allowed the whites to escape to the fort —
thirteen of them ; the other eight were stretched upon
the ground, never as living men to enter it again. The
wife of Robertson stood at the gateway as, one after an-
other, the fugitives arrived at the entrance. As her hus-
band came in, begrimed with smoke and powder, she is re-
ported to have said to him, '' Thanks be to God, who gave
to the Indians a dread of dogs, and a love for horses ! "
A RAIN OF FIRE. 37
Among the eight who fell were those brave spirits,
Leiper and Buchanan. Isaac Lucas, a brother of the
slaughtered major, was shot down within rifle-range of
the fort. A stalwart savage was in close pursuit, and as
Lucas fell the Indian drew his tomahawk to dispatch
him ; but the fallen man, who had reloaded his rifle as
he ran, now leveled the weapon, and the savage fell dead
in his tracks. ■ His comrades in the fort then covered
Lucas with their fire, and, after a while, got him away in
safety. Even a narrower escape was that of Edward
Swanson. Overtaken by a huge savage when within
twenty paces of the gateway, and felled to his knees, he
grasped the rifle which the Indian had uplifted to brain
him. A desperate struggle ensued for the possession of
the weapon, during which the garrison could not fire,
for fear of killing their comrade. The Indian was the
stronger of the two, and he was disengaging his toma-
hawk to give Swanson his death-blow, when the aged
John Buchanan, whose own son lay dead on the field not
far away, rushed from the fort and gave the savage a
mortal shot from his rifle. The arm of the Indian fell ;
and then, gritting his teeth with rage, he staggered to a
stump near by, and sank dead to the ground. The old
man then helped his badly wounded comrade into the
fort. Very few of the horses were captured by the In-
dians ; the most of them, after a hard chase over and
around Capitol Hill, came to the gateway of the fort and
were joyfully admitted.
About ten o'clock in the morning the Indians with-
38 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIYILIZATION.
drew from the neighborhood, but at nightfall they re-
turned and opened fire upon the walls of the fort. They
seemed more numerous than before, and it was conject-
ured that they had been re-enforced by a party not in the
conflict of the morning. About midnight a body of
several hundred were seen to gather near to the walls of
the fort, and then the solitary swivel of the settlers
was put in position, loaded with slugs and broken crock-
ery, and discharged upon the gathering mass, who at
once scattered and fled into the forest. This explosion
of worthless material doubtless saved the fort from being
stormed by a thousand Indians. With the report of the
rifle the savages were familiar, but there was terror to
them in the roar of even a four-pounder.
Then, again, the whole settlement became a battle-
ground, where white man met red, and both went down
to a swift destruction. Of those one hundred and thirty-
four, who so bravely stood at their posts, at the end of
the year only seventy were living. The rest had offered
up their lives for Western civilization. Every man was
a hero, every boy was a man, and every delicate woman
was a soldier, ready to mold bullets, to load rifles, to
stand all day gun in hand at the port-holes, and to
watch all night to extinguish the torch which the prowl-
ing savage might apply to the stations.
Eobertson was not long in discovering that the at-
tacking party had been composed not only of Oherokees,
but of detachments from the Shawnees, Delawares, Wy-
andots, and even the Pottawattamies, and other tribes
A RAIN OF FIRE. 39
around the Great Lakes of the Northwest. Hence he
inferred that a vast coalition had heen formed for the de-
struction of the white settlers. In this he was not mis-
taken. The British Governor of Detroit, Hamilton —
styled the ^^scalp-trader" by George Rogers Clark — who
had been the prime mover of the previous coalition, was
now safely under lock and key in Virginia, but the
dragon's teeth he had sown had, after more than a year,
sprung up a well-armed force of twenty thousand.
Deputies from all the tribes except the Choctaws and
Chickasaws had recently met at Old Chillicothe, and
there, inflamed by the evil eloquence of Simon Girty, the
renegade white devil, they had resolved on the extermi-
nation of all the settlers west of the Alleghanies. The
head chief of the Shawnees was to direct the operations
in the field, but the feeble and decrepit Oconostota was
the heart and brain of the movement. The diabolical
spirit which was in this old man could only be appeased
by the rapine and slaughter of the whites ; but he was
now smarting under the recent chastisement of his
nation by Sevier, who, at that very moment, was carry-
ing fire and sword to the Cherokee towns among the
Smoky Mountains. His braves were too much cowed to
be at once led against the invincible Nolichucky Jack,
but they had no such fear of the peace-loving Robert-
son and his feeble settlements along the Cumberland.
Hence, while Girty descended upon the whites in Ken-
tucky, Oconostota determined that his warriors and their
allies should envelop and destroy Robertson, the man of
4:0 ADVANCE- GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
whose fire-water he had drunk, whose venison he had
eaten, and for whom he had professed an undying
friendship.
Oconostota had given the whites timely warning of
his lasting enmity. At the treaty of Watauga in 1776
he had opposed the cession of the country to the whites ;
and, when his arguments had been overborne by those
who represented that the settlers would be a barrier be-
tween the Cherokees and their Northern enemies, he
had taken David Boone by the hand and said to him :
^^ Young man, we have sold you a fine territory, but I
fear you will have some difiiculty in getting it settled."
In this remark of the wily old savage there was a threat
as well as a prophecy. "Much trouble," indeed, was
to make this fine land a ''dark and bloody ground."
Instead of being a barrier between contending savages,
it was to be their central point of attack, the target at
which through long years they should aim their most
murderous fire.
The fact of the coalition Eobertson subsequently
learned from the Chickasaws, but the evidence he now
had of it was too clear to be questioned ; so, he prepared
at once, as best he might, for the direful emergency.
But what could he do ? What more than to look well to
the strengthening of the forts, and to lay in a plentiful
supply of ammunition ? Reduced to extremities, the set-
tlers could trap game in their dead-falls, gather walnuts
from the near-by forest, or catch fish from the river
which the fort overlooked ; but without powder and lead
A RAIN OF FIRE. 41
they would be absolutely at the mercy of the savages.
Bledsoe had brought in a pack-load during the win-
ter, but not enough to last through the year ; so now
tlie scout Castleman, and one other, set out to break
through the Indian lines and procure the needed supply
from the distant settlements. But even with ammuni-
tion, and posted behind stout defenses, how could this
handful of men withstand such a horde of enemies ?
Does history give account of any similar body so much
as attempting to stand its ground against such over-
whelming numbers ?
The Indians made no further attack on any of the
forts ; they simply enveloped them, and lay in wait to
take the whites at a disadvantage. There was no longer
any security outside the walls of the log- fortresses ; and
even there the momentary exposure of a head at an em-
brasure was very sure to draw upon it an Indian bullet.
Corn had to be raised against the coming winter ; but,
while one planted, two or three stood guard with their
rifles at half-trigger. If one went to a spring, another
was placed on watch ; and if half a dozen were, for any
purpose, gathered in field or forest, each one stood, gun
in hand, facing outward, his senses all alert for the
prowling savage. The ground around the stations be-
came a wide battle-field, or rather, a vast aceldama,
where white man and red went down together, leaving
their flesh as food for the wolves, and their bones to
bleach in the sun and rain, because no man durst give
them burial.
42 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERI^ CIVILIZATION.
Familiarity with danger is said to rob it of its terrors ;
but I suppose that a life-long exposure to it would not
make a brave man of a coward. Those qualities which
coolly meet peril, patiently endure suffering, and reso-
lutely encounter hardship, are born in a man, and are
not acquired by any amount of training or experience.
With these people, however, they were not only inborn,
but also developed by daily danger to a degree that is
absolutely wonderful. Their moral courage is shown in
the stand they made — one hundred and thirty-four
against twenty thousand ; but their natural bravery,
their fortitude, their mere physical endurance, were
just as remarkable. These characteristics may be illus-
trated by a few instances as well as by a detailed his-
tory.
Two young lads — aged twelve and fourteen — named
Mason, went out one morning on a " still-hunt " for
deer, to a spring not far from one of the forts. With
their rifles loaded, they had concealed themselves in the
underbrush, and were silently waiting for the game,
when a party of seven Cherokees came to the lick,
armed and painted, as if on the war-path. But, painted
or unpainted, it mattered not to the boys ; for they had
but recently lost an older brother, shot down within
sight of the station by these same Cherokees. The
smoke from their rifles would show where they were con-
cealed, but, without a thought of the danger, the boys
fired, and killed two of the Indians. The rest fled, and
then the lads, taught ferocity by their ferocious enemies.
A EAIN OF FIRE. 43
coolly scalped the lifeless bodies and bore the trophies
off to the fort.
David Hood was a light-hearted young fellow, quick
at repartee and fond of adventure. He was of slender
build and without physical strength, but his courage
was unquestioned, though no one suspected him of a for-
titude absolutely stoical, and a tenacity of life that has
seldom been equaled. His brother had been killed by
the Indians just outside the fort, during the previous
summer ; and he had been often cautioned to be more
careful in venturing between the stations, but he per-
sisted in going out upon short hunts, and frequent visits
to the young people in the neighboring stations. One
day in midwinter he went, with two other young men,
upon a short excursion ; and on their return, about
nightfall, they were waylaid and shot at by a considerable
body of Indians. They all ran for dear life, but they
could not outrun the bullets of the savages. All three were
wounded, and Hood so badly that he fell in his tracks,
within sight of the fort. The Indians were close upon
him, and, deeming it his only chance for life, he turned
over upon his face in the cane and feigned to be dead.
" The Indians gathered around him," says Captain Rains,
in the old chronicle, *^and one of them very deliberately
twisted his fingers into his hair to scalp him. His knife
being very dull he let go, took a better hold, and sawed
away until he could pull it off, poor Hood bearing it
meanwhile without a groan or a show of life." Then
the Indians reloaded their rifles and went away, one of
4A ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
them giving the dead man a few thrusts with his knife
to make sure that life had left him. When they had
been some time gone, Hood raised his head, looked about
him, and, the coast seeming to be clear, he pulled him-
self to his feet and set out to hobble toward the fort.
But what was his consternation, when, slowly mounting
the ridge, to find himself in the midst of the same band
of Indians ! They set up a fiendish laugh — jeering at
him as a dead man, blind and bloody, attempting to
walk — and then fired upon him again. He set out to
run, but a bullet in the breast brought him to the
ground, and again the sayages were upon him. On this
occasion they gave him wounds that would have killed
any one with less than nine lives, and then tossed his
body upon a brush -heap in the snow. There he lay
tlirough the long hours of a winter's night, within sight
of the fort, the garrison supposing him to be dead, and
none daring to bring in his body on account of the In-
dians. In the morning the body was found by the blood-
marks in the snow, and taking it sorrowfully up his com-
rades bore it to the fort, and to one of the outer cabins,
to be got ready for interment. The women then gathered
about it to do the last offices to the dead, and one of them
thought she saw some signs of life in the body. As the
warmth of the room diffused itself through his benumbed
and half-frozen limbs. Hood's many wounds had started
to bleed afresh, and a cloudy consciousness had come
back to him. '^Aren't you dead?" asked the woman.
**No," he answered, in a feeble voice ; "I can live, if
A RAIN OF FIRE. 45
you give me only half a chance." He recovered, to often
tell how he had hoodwinked the Indians.
By a little girl in the fort, who had an experience
somewhat similar to his own, he was styled Mr. Opos-
sum, and he was accustomed to retort by calling her Miss
Opossum. She had been sent to the spring one day
to bring to her mother a bucket of water. Some In-
dians concealed behind a pile of brush near by seized
her, and one drew his knife to cut o2 her scalp. The
screams of the child brought her mother from the fort,
followed by a number of the garrison. The Indians
fled, but not till they had scalped the child, and given
the mother some terrible wounds, from which sjie was
long in recovering. Of old and young who had been
scalped, and left for dead, but who had finally recovered,
there was soon a number among the settlers. Hood was
accustomed to allude to them as his '' select company " —
his troop of "discrowned royalties."
Captain Eains and the scout Castleman were in the
fort when the little girl was scalped, and they resolved
upon an immediate pursuit of the Indians. Through
the canebrakes, or over the matted leaves that every-
where covered the forest, the trail of a man was as easily
followed as footprints are in the snow, and it was not
long before the two intrepid men returned to the fort
with the scalps of the little girl and of two of the ma-
rauders.
These scouts and their companions, whose names
have not come down to us, were essential to the very ex-
46 ADYANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN^ CIYILIZATIOK
istence of the beleaguered community. It is impossible
to conjecture how Robertson, with all his caution, fore-
sight, and indomitable resolution, could have kept the
settlement alive but for their watchful care and sleepless
vigilance. At all hours of the day and night they were
out, exposed to the extremest dangers. Their duties
were to traverse the forest on all sides of the stations, to
follow the trails of the savages, waylay the crossings of
creeks and rivers, conceal themselves in the neighbor-
hood of springs to which the Indians resorted for water,
and to fire upon them whenever it would not be a waste
of powder. There were six of them in constant service,
to whom — as they could do nothing for their own sub-
sistence — was given an allowance of seventy-five bushels
of corn per month. They had to be not only of the
highest courage, but of that keenness of vision, quick-
ness of hearing, and skill in wood-craft, which is deemed
peculiar to the Indian. But the wood-craft of these men
equaled that of the savage, and Castleman excelled him
on his own ground, and beat him with his own weapons.
He could tread on a dry leaf and make no sound;
track the footsteps of an enemy in the darkest night,
and find his way through the forest with neither moon
nor stars to guide him. The voice of every beast and
bird he could imitate — the bleat of the deer, the howl of
the wolf, the call of the wild turkey — and all so perfectly
as to deceive the very savages. By these sounds, mis-
taken for those of game, he lured his enemy within reach
of his rifle ; and then it was a sharp report, a shrill cry,
A EAIN OF FIRE. 47
and another Indian had entered the happy hunting-
grounds. Two of his brothers had been killed by the
Cherokees, and he felt that he had a special "call" to
exterminate that nation. His rifle he loved as if it had
been his sweetheart ; and he gave it a pet name, as did
most of the settlers to their weapons. Eains christened
his "Sister," but Castleman gave his the homelier name
of "Betsy" ; and wonderful were Betsy's exploits, as he
related them, for he had the true Southwestern talent at
exaggeration. " Once," he is reported to have said,
"she girdled a white oak, nicked the epidermis of an
Indian's back, knocked over a catamount, brought down
a flock of turkeys from the tree-tops, laid out a buffalo,
blazed a section of land, split enough boards to cover a
shanty ; and, if I fired her more than once, you may say
I wasted time and ammunition."
But Castleman's own exploits are more credible than
those of his rifle, and I quote one of them, as it illus-
trates the wood-craft that was practiced by both the
settlers and the Indians. One of the savages had tried
to draw him within reach of his gun by whooping like
an owl. " It was," said Castleman, " in the dusk of the
evening. The imitation of this large bird of night was
very perfect ; yet I was suspicious. The woo-hoo call
and the woo-hoo answer were not well timed and toned,
and the babel chatter was a failure ; and, more than this,
I was sure they were on the ground. ^ That won't be-
gin to do ; I'll see you,' says I to myself. As I ap-
proached, I saw something, of the height of a stump.
48 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
standing between a forked tree which divided near the
ground. I knew there could be no stump there, so I put
Betsy to my face — that stump was once a live Indian,
and he lay at the roots of those forked chestnuts. If
he was ever buried, it was not far off."
Old Mr. Mansker, of Mansker's Station, was also a
noted scout, and of him the following is related. He
had peculiarly keen eyes, set so widely apart in his head
that he was accustomed to say that he could see on both
sides ^nd entirely around himself. An Indian had at-
tempted to decoy him by the simulated call of the
wild turkey, and the old gentleman thought that '^, two
could play at that game " ; though his was the most
dangerous part, he being a moving object, while his
adversary was stationary. He approached cautiously
till he could designate the tree behind which his enemy
was concealed. The task then was to make the Indian
uncover ; so, keeping one eye upon that tree, and the
muzzle of his rifle pointed toward it, he crept cautiously
along at a distance too gi'eat for an Indian's fire, but
just right for his '^ Nancy." When he was sure the
Indian had seen him, he moved away to the right, hop-
ing to draw him on to follow, and so to get him from
his concealment. But all the while he kept his left eye
fixed upon the tree behind which the savage was hidden.
Suddenly the Indian bounded to another cover, and as
suddenly Nancy spoke to him in so loud a tone that he
fell to the ground lifeless.
The scouts were messengers of death to the savages,
A RAIN OF FIRE. 49
but they were not invulnerable to Indian bullets. Often
one was shot down, and during this second winter four
fell within forty-eight hours of one another. And death
to them, if not instantaneous, was always attended with
the extremest tortures. Mercy is not a prominent trait
of the Indian character ; but the Cherokee had abso-
lutely no mercy upon the men who retorted upon him
his own mode of warfare. And yet, when one scout
fell, another was ready to take his place, not led thereto
by the scanty j)ay — for what relish could there be in
parched corn, eaten in deadly peril ? They were
prompted by mixed motives — love of their friends,
hatred of the savages, and, more than all else, by a
genuine fondness for excitement and danger.
But, though many of the scouts fell, I question if
the mortality was any greater among them than among
the other settlers. During the two years that followed
the attack on the fort at the Bluff, nearly one half of
the whole number perished by violence — that is, one was
killed, on an average, during every six days of that
whole period. It is hard for us to realize such a state
of things : when no man knew but the day might be
his last ; when the husband, parting for but a few
hours from the wife, took leave of her as if forever;
when women and children said their prayers on going
out to milk the cows, or to the spring for a bucket of
water. It was one long reign of terror. In the morn-
ing it was asked, '^ How many of us are living ? " and
in the evening, ** Which of us has been slaughtered
50 ADYANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
to-day ? " The September massacres in the prisons of
Paris, which sent a thrill of horror throughout Europe
and America, lasted but four days, and, by the best ac-
counts, immolated only a thousand and eighty-nine vic-
tims in a population of about a million — that is, about
one in every thousand. But these Indian massacres
lasted two long years, and at their close every other male
settler had fallen by the tomahawk or the Indian rifle.
The victims of Paris, too, perished amid a sympathizing
world, where millions would bewail their fate and pro-
claim their virtues. These men were cut off from the
world, shut out alike from human^ succor and human
sympathy, and they went down amid the solitude and
silence of the wilderness, where few would mourn their
fall, and perhaps not even a stone would tell their
names to coming generations. But neither isolation nor
death could shake the resolution of Robertson. *^The
God of creation and providence," he said, ^^ never de-
signed these rich and beautiful lands to be given up to
wild beasts and savages. They are to be the home of
Christianity and civilization." '^If we perish here,"
said his friend Isaac Bledsoe, " others will come to avenge
our death, and accomplish the work we have begun.
They will find our graves, or our scattered bones, and
tell to the ages that we deserved a better fate."
This was the spirit that animated them, and so they
met unmoved the extremest perils, and in defiance of
starvation, and havoc, and death, held that extreme out-
post ou the Cumberland.
A RAIN OF FIRE. 51
How, amid such a rain of fire, could these people
provide foiv their daily needs, and pursue the ordinary
employments of life ? Tiiey did do these things. They
caught fish from the river, and game from the forest.
They jDlanted and sowed, and gathered in their grain.
During the entire two years they did not want, though
there were times when the corn was measured out, and
each one had only a scanty allowance. Many of their
cattle were slaughtered by the Indians, but those that
were left did not lack for fodder ; the cane that grew
about the forts supplied them, both in summer and
winter, with abundant provender. The settlers also
found time to repair their cabins, and to erect others,
and even to build grist-mills.
Neither did the colonists lack for clothing, though
the women did not wear silks nor the men broadcloth.
No supplies came among them after their first arrival ;
and, as a matter of course, the clothes they brought be-
came in time so worn that even the principal men went
about arrayed in shreds and patches. But when patch
had been added to patch till there was nothing left of
the original garment, and the motley thing had itself
fallen in pieces, the settlers had to look about for other
wearing material. They had not far to seek. The skin
of the deer, the bear, and the buffalo had served to
clothe those creatures, and why should it not do a like
service to the human animal ? They became so expert in
dressing these skins — using the brains of the beast as an
emollient — as to give them a most pliable texture and
52 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
velvety softness. They fashioned them into all kinds of
raiment — waistcoats, trousers, hnnting-shirts, and even
into garments worn next to the person ; and this was
the work of the men as well as of the women, as they
gathered together around the great wood-fires of the forts
in the long winter evenings.
Nearly all the beasts of the forest were made to con-
tribute to their apparel, and when arrayed in this primi-
tive fashion the settler presented a very picturesque ap-
pearance. His cap was of foz or wolf skin, the tail
dangling behind ; his trousers and hunting-shirt were of
deer-skin, fringed with the fur of the bear or panther,
and the latter garment belted about with a strip of buf-
falo-hide, tanned and dyed some bright color. His feet
were shod with buffalo-skin, dressed to such softness that
his tread was as noiseless as that of ^^the wild-cat of the
mountain." When he went abroad in winter he threw a
robe of this material over his left shoulder — the right be-
ing left free to handle his rifle — and, wrapped in this, he
slept warmly, even if his bed was a snow-bank. Buffalo-
robes were the universal substitute for woolen blankets.
A hunting-party seldom went out unless provided with a
pack-horse laden with these articles, under which they
could sleep perfectly protected from the rain and snow.
The dress of the women was of the same material as that
of the men, though more ornamented, and cut with greater
regard to the ^'latest fashion." It was most commonly
of deer-skin, dressed to resemble Canton crape, and col-
ored with various vegetable dyes which gave it a brilliant
A EAIN OF FIRE. 53
and really attractive appearance. Many a backwoods
beauty thus adorned is reported to have " smashed the
hearts of a dozen adorers " ; and her rosy health, supple
limbs, rounded figure, and natural grace and loveliness,
might have captivated men more familiar with "culti-
vated " beauty.
Thus the year wore away, and the third winter came
on with rain, and sleet, and snow, and a scanty store of
corn in the granary. Then the survivors came together
again to count up the graves of their fallen, and to num-
ber their unburied dead, whose bones were moldering
away in unknown nooks of the forest. It was a ghastly
reckoning — one to appall the stoutest-hearted ; and
again they proposed to Eobertson to seek safety by aban-
doning the country. " We are here," they said to him,
*^ standing back to back, all facing outward, like a covey
of partridges on watch for a creeping enemy. More
than two years have now passed, and a fierce and mur-
derous war is still waged against us. We are fewer in
number, and occupy less ground than we did a year
ago, and we are decreasing rapidly. We have dimin-
ished means for defense or expansion ; we are hemmed
in and hunted, buffeted and badgered, worse than at
first ; and we see no prospect for any improvement."
Eobertson's reply has been preserved, but there is
space here for but a few extracts. He did not attempt
to conceal the gravity of the situation, but he opposed
the proposition to abandon the settlement. ** Where
will you go ? " he asked. "It is impossible to get to
54 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
Kentucky ; the Indians are in force on all the passes
thither. For the same reason you can not remove to the
settlements upon the Holston. No chance remains but
to go down the river in boats, and make our way to the
Illinois, where we might find a few friends, or to the
French and Spaniards on the lower Mississippi. But to
this plan there are insuperable obstacles. With what
boats we have a few might get away, risking the dangers
of the navigation, and of being shot by the savages on
the bluffs, and all along the shores. But how can we
obtain timber to build the other boats that will be
needed ? The Indians are every day in the skirts of the
woods ; we look for them under every shrub, and privet,
and cedar, and we find them behind every tree. They are
ready to inflict death upon whomsoever shall attempt to
fell a tree, to hew out a canoe, or saw it into lumber."
Then he spoke feelingly of the sufferings they had en-
dured, and the dangers that then surrounded them. He
did not conceal his belief that the savages had resolved
to drive them away, or to destroy them ; and he added :
'^ There is danger if we stay, and danger if we attempt
to go ; either way we may be destroyed. Every one
must decide for himself. Do as you please. My mind
is made up. I have never thought of leaving ; I am de-
termined not to leave. Others here think and feel as I
do. We know each other. I hope that others of you,
who have talked of going, may yet conclude to stay."
Then he predicted the speedy and successful termination
of the war for independence, and pictured the better day
A RAIN OF FIRE. 55
that would then dawn upon the settlement, when they
might rely upon large accessions to their population.
Officers and soldiers would come there to select their
bounty-lands, and then settle among them. He closed
with sententious brevity : '*We have to fight it out here,
or to fight our way out from here."
'' We will fight it out here ! " echoed Rains as Robert-
son concluded ; and the words were taken up and re-
peated by the whole assemblage. After that there were
dark days, but never again was there a thought of aban-
doning the settlement.
CHAPTEK III.
THE DAY DAWi^II^G.
I NEED not recount the savage warfare of the two
years that followed. It would be a mere recital of
bloody encounters between white man and red, when
both met destruction. Time and again every settler fled
to the three stations ; and some never reached those
places of safety. Some were shot down on the way at
noonday, and some awoke at dead of night only to meet
the tomahawk of the savage. A party of eleven set out
for the Bluff from one of the outlying stations. En-
camping for the night, they were awakened by the war-
whoop, and only one escaped — a woman, who, with her
hair hanging about her, her clothing torn to shreds, her
limbs scratched and bleeding, came to the gate of the
fort in the morning. With no guide but the stars, she
had fled twenty miles through matted undergrowth and
privet bushes, leaving her husband and children asleep
forever in the forest.
But during the third winter the settlers were com-
paratively free from savage molestation. The weather
THE DAY DAWNING. 57
was unusually cold ; and most of the Northern Indians
retired to their distant wigwams, while the Chickamau-
gas — the most troublesome branch of the Cherokees — had
full employment in repairing the devastation which Se-
vier had recently inflicted upon their country. Their
provisions having been destroyed, they were forced to
stay at home to provide subsistence for their wives and
children. The settlers' supply of corn was scanty, and
their stock of ammunition again became so reduced that
every man was enjoined to be economical in his expendi-
ture of powder and lead. None was wasted in hunting,
but the whole kept in reserve against a possible attack
from the Indians. But the settlers did not lack for
game. Fish was abundant in the river, and bears and
deer were easily caught in pens and dead-falls, and rab-
bits and wild turkeys in snares and traps. Thus fed
from the forest and the river, and warmly clad in skins,
this band of Crusoes passed the winter securely housed
in their log- fortresses, and without any diminution to
their numbers. Some few Indians were seen by the
spies ; but they did not come near the forts, and no lives
were lost in any hostile encounters.
March came, and the sun had begun to melt the snow
in the forest and the ice in the river, when there rode up
to the Bluff an unexpected troop of horsemen. They
were well armed and well mounted, but bore traces of a
long journey, and two or three of them had unhealed
wounds, which told of some recent encounter. They
asked to be allowed to cast in their lot with the settlers.
58 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
'^ Who are you ? " was the first and most natural of
questions in the circumstances. The strangers frankly-
answered that they were Tories, who had fled for their
lives from the lower Carolinas. Every man of them had
borne arms against the country, but now they desired to
live at peace with their neighbors. This they could not
do over the mountains, for there they were hunted down
as criminals. They had nothing but strong arms and
sure rifles ; but, being granted protection, they would
gladly use these in defense of the settlement.
The larger number of the settlers had fought under
John Sevier, and had imbibed his intense patriotism, but
not his toleration and kindliness for even an armed
enemy. They regarded a Tory as they did a wild beast
— as nearer of kin to the Evil-One than even a Chicka-
mauga savage ; and at once, and unanimously, they re-
jected the overtures of the new-comers. But Eobertson
opposed this decision. He said that " this is a free coun-
try, in which no man should suffer for a mere opinion.
Opinion harms no one but the man himself, unless it
leads him to unlawful action. These men believe in
George Rex, we believe in George Washington. To us
one name stands for tyranny, the other for freedom.
They think just the contrary ; and this opinion of theirs
has led them into acts for which they would probably be
hanged, if caught over the mountains. This they admit,
but say they now want to lead peaceable lives. In other
words, they repent, and want space for repentance. We
have space enough and to spare ; and I am in favor of
THE DAY DAWmNG. 59
admitting them to a corner of it on probation. Tf they
show themselves to be worthy men, I shall propose to let
them stay, provided they make oaths to abjure King
George, and to support us and the Continental Congress.
I think there may be honest Tories, and I like the frank-
ness of these men. I believe they will show themselves
good citizens ; if they do not, we are stronger than they
— we can either expel them from the settlements, or, if
their acts should deserve it, hang them from the nearest
tree."
The Tories were admitted to the community, con-
ducted themselves as good citizens, and thus the colony
was re-enforced by about twenty good riflemen. Eobert-
son had heard previously of the surrender of Cornwallis ;
but these Tories reported that the British forces were
shut up in Charleston, and that, about sixty days before,
civil government had been re-established in South Caro-
lina. In these two events Eobertson saw the beginning
of the end, and he bade his comrades to be of good cheer^
for the day was dawning.
The next accession to the settlement occurred in the
following summer. North Carolina was largely in ar-
rears to her soldiers. She had fed them with poorly
lithographed promises ; but these were now worth only
one cent on the dollar. Two hundred dollars was the
price of a bushel of corn ; it was also the pay of a private
soldier for six months, and consequently he had to live
upon two bushels of corn per year. On such rations the
soldier could not be expected to do very effective service ;
4
60 ADYANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
so North Carolina stopped his pay altogether, and said to
him, "If you will feed and clothe yourself, and fight like
a man to the end of your enlistment, I will, for what I
now owe you, and your future service, give you a warrant
for a broad farm west of the Alleghanies/'
These warrants the State called *^ bounty-warrants,"
and the lands "bounty-lands"; but at this distance of
time it is not easy to perceive what bounty there was
in canceling the just dues of the scarred and war-worn
soldier by grants of wild land, which he would have to
cultivate with the plow in one hand and a rifle in the
other, fighting the Indians at his own expense and risk,
and with the express assurance that he was to receive no
aid or protection from his government. As these war-
rants were forced upon the soldier — those, or nothing,
being his alternative — there would seem to have been not
only meanness, but positive injustice, in the transaction.
However, like many other unjust things in this world, it
was overruled for good. It secured a more speedy settle-
ment of the country west of the Alleghanies ; and, more-
over, it sent there the men who had borne the brunt
of the war on the seaboard, and who were specially fitted
to subdue the savages and the wilderness. They emi-
grated to the Watauga and the Cumberland by thousands,
and it is asserted — and I think with truth — that Tennes-
see holds to-day the bones of more Revolutionary soldiers
than any other State in the Union — all which is due to
the "bounty" policy of the parent State, North Carolina.
By the summer of 1782 very many of these "bounty-
THE DAY DAWNING. 61
warrants " had been issued, and then North Carolina
sent out commissioners to *' locate " the lands — that is,
to ascertain where they were, define their boundaries, and
map them with sufiBcient accuracy to enable the settler
to recognize his own proj^erty. With these commis-
sioners went a body-guard of one hundred men, and a
large number of families took advantage of this guard
to secure a safe passage to the Cumberland. Thus were
the settlements largely augmented in numbers. One of
the commissioners was .Isaac Shelby, who soon after-
ward settled in Kentucky, and became its first Governor ;
and another, Anthony Bledsoe, an older brother of Isaac
Bledsoe, and a trusted friend of Robertson. Bledsoe was
a prominent citizen of Southwestern Virginia, had been
one of those who rushed to the rescue of the fort at
Watauga in 1776, and he had served with distinction
in the war, rising to the rank of colonel. He soon
afterward settled at Bledsoe's Lick — now Castalian
Springs — about thirty-five miles north of Nashville;
and his coming brought many of his old companions in
arms, and contributed largely to the prosperity and
progress of the new settlements.
The return of spring brought a renewal of Indian
hostilities. The commissioners, with their guard of a
hundred men, were not molested ; but any small party
venturing into the forest was very sure to have a bloody
encounter. Still, either because the Indians were less
numerous, or the settlers more cautious, the casualties
were fewer during this than any preceding year. The
G2 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
total death-roll for 1783 was only twenty-one, and five of
those lost their lives in an attempt to erect what was
afterward known as Buchanan's Station, about five miles
southeast from Nashville. The Northern tribes seemed
to have given up the contest. The hostiles were gen-
erally Chickamaugas ; and after September even they
suddenly ceased their incursions, for again had Sevier
descended upon their towns with fire and sword, forcing
them to stay at home to make provision for their fami-
lies during the winter.
Thus relieved from immediate hostilities, Robertson
made overtures of peace to Old Tassel, the well-disposed
and peace-loving old man, who had succeeded Oconos-
tota as chief-king of the Cherokees. Robertson, when
at Watauga, had held friendly relations with this chief-
tain ; and he felt confident that, if he were assured of
the amicable disposition of the whites, he would consent
to a treaty that would secure peace with the larger
and more orderly portion of his nation. With the law-
less Chickamauga bandits there could be no peace. No
treaty would bind them. Their natural element was
war ; and they could be restrained from rapine and
bloodshed only by the kind of pressure that Sevier had,
time and again, brought upon them.
Robertson's friendly overtures were accepted by Old
Tassel, and soon afterward came news of the proclama-
tion of peace with Great Britain. There being no longer
any immediate danger from the Indians, the settlers left
their crowded quarters in the forts, erected cabins out-
THE DAY DAWNING. 63
side, and overflowed the country in all directions. The
new-comers now flocking into the settlement were gen-
erally Revolutionary soldiers, seeking their bounty-lands ;
but many of them were men of substance, bringing
horses, cattle, and other material wealth into the coun-
try. Among other things they brought were the
"latest fashions," and, seeing those, the original Orusoes
once more assumed the raiment of civilization, though
to procure it they had to journey hundreds of miles
through the woods to the store which General James
Wilkinson had recently established at Lexington, Ken-
tucky. The young men, however, still adhered to buck-
skin hunting-shirts and leather breeches ; and it is said
that even among the young women some of the under-
garments continued to be of the same durable material.
The desperate struggle for her own existence over^
North Carolina had time to think of her desolate off-
spring on the distant Cumberland. She gave them now
a legal existence — a Court of Common Pleas and Quarter
Sessions, and erected their territory into a county, called
Davidson, with the right to send two representatives to
the General Assembly. The members at once elected
were Eobertson and Anthony Bledsoe. Among Robert-
son's first acts as a member of the Assembly was one to
procure the opening of a land-office at the Bluff, and the
incorporation of the place as a town under the name of
Nashville, in honor of a patriot soldier who had been
slain at the battle of German town.
Having now a name, a court-house, a prison, and
64: ADYANCE-GUARD OF WESTEPwN CIVILIZATION.
a dozen log-houses, the present capital of Tennessee
may be said to have fairly begun a political existence.
The court-house was of logs, ^^ eighteen feet square,
with a lean-to of twelve feet on one side of the house,"
and it was furnished with benches, a bar, and a table
for the use of court and jurors. The prison was of
about the same style and dimensions ; and the dwell-
ings were very much like the edifices still to be seen
in the backwoods. They were of logs, generally rough-
hewn, and chinked with clay. The windows were
mere openings in the walls, secured by a stout shutter,
but destitute of glass, though sometimes furnished with
oiled paper as a substitute. The floors were of split
puncheons, the roofs of clapboards, and the doors of
stout plank, hung upon wooden hinges, iron being too
scarce and valuable to be used for much besides horse-
shoes. The inside furnishing of these domiciles was in
keeping with their outer appearance. A few splint-bot-
tom chairs, a rough pine table, a rustic bedstead, or
often a pile of buffalo-robes, in use as a bed, were the
more prominent articles of furniture.
The land-office was the center of activity in the new
town. It was a small shanty of cedar poles, but it was
besieged daily with crowds of land-hunters, immigrants,
and Revolutionary soldiers, eager to have their claims en-
tered and their lands surveyed, that they might become
citizens of the new country. Everything was of the most
primitive description, but everywhere could be seen tokens
of a coming civilization. Ugly worm-fences were creep-
THE DAY DAWNING. 65
ing around stumpy or blackened patches of ground, amid
which corn was growing, and cane was being stacked for
the cattle. In the forest the woodman's axe was echoing,
and the great trees were falling, and every here and there
a small cabin was going up, to be the home of the settler
and his family. It seemed as if a better day had dawned
upon the settlement.
Robertson was a regular attendant upon the sessions of
the Legislature. The distance from the State capital was
seven hundred miles, and for more than half of the way
the route was still the hunter's trail through the woods
of Kentucky, infested by wild beasts and by savages,
who, whether at peace or war, were always belligerents
when they could take the white man at a disadvantage in
the forest. Immigrants never took the route except in
considerable bodies ; but Robertson and Bledsoe usually
came and went alone, with no other guard than their
faithful dogs, that kept watch over them while, wrapped
in their buffalo-robes, and their horses tethered beside
them, they made their bivouac among the timber. Sin-
gle travelers, and even small companies, seldom traversed
the route without molestation ; but, though he often
came upon the Indian camp-fires, Robertson never en-
countered the savages. No doubt this was partly due
to his sleepless vigilance, and skill in wood-craft ; still
it is most remarkable. Passing unharmed through so
many perils, it is not strange that, like Sevier, he came
at last to believe that he bore a charmed life, for which
no Indian bullet would ever be molded. It is certain
e6 ADYANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
that the loss of his life would have been the death-knell
of the settlements along the Cumberland.
Kobertson's visits to the Legislature were great events
in the little community. On such occasions he carried
•^the mail," and bore numberless commissions to be exe-
cuted in the older settlements ; and he seldom returned
without an extra pack-horse laden with packages for his
friends and neighbors. With his head full of great
affairs — the designs of the savages, or the legislation
needed for the settlement — he had to think of a pound
of tea for a neighbor's wife, a blue ribbon for his daugh-
ter, or a copy of Dilworth's ^' Speller," or Cheever's '* Ac-
cidence" for some aspiring youth who was ambitious to
spell and speak the English language with "elegance and
propriety." They were a primitive people, and he was
their patriarch and lawgiver ; but he was also "a servant
of servants unto his brethren."
The court which Eobertson established was invested
with many of the attributes of sovereignty. It was
made a legislative body as well as a judicial tribunal.
It could enact sumptuary laws, regulate the currency,
open roads over other territory, and raise and embody
troops — in short, it could do almost anything which did
not involve a call upon the State treasury. Its empty
exchequer North Carolina guarded with a vigilant par-
simony which appears contemptible when it is consid-
ered that Robertson and his compatriots were adding a
daily increasing value to its vacant lands beyond the
Cumberland Mountains. To every enactment was ap-
THE DAY DAWNING. 67
pended a "Provided always" that the total expense
should be borne by the tax-payers of Davidson County.
Money and protection were things to be exclusively ap-
propriated to the older counties.
In the exercise of its plenary powers Robertson's
''Court of Quarter Sessions" made some enactments
which are curiously illustrative of the time, and the
character of the settlers. It being important to keep
peace with the Indians, the court decreed that no one
should be allowed to trade with or visit them without a
written permit from the authorities. Profane swearing,
intemperance, and other vices were prohibited. It was
a Qp^ed y^ Samuel Henry be fin** lOss for profanely swear-
ing y* pres""® of y* c* " ; and even John Rains, the Joab of
the young community, was arraigned for profanely abus-
ing a neighbor on the public thoroughfare. As he paid
down his fine, the gallant captain remarked to the court :
''I do not object to having to pay for speaking the
truth ; but, fine or no fine, I do insist that he is the
d st scoundrel in the settlement ! " adding also some
other expletives, which showed that he intended to have
the full worth of his ten shillings. The court frequently
enforced a State law of 1741, which enjoined the omis
si on of all secular employments, and a punctual attend-
ance on public worship on the Sabbath. Under this act
two persons were once arraigned, the one for buying, and
the other for selling, a ''lying-out" negro on Sunday;
but they were both acquitted, because it was shown that
they had not consummated the bargain on the holy day.
68 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
One had merely said to the other, *^If it were not Sun-
day, I would give you so much for the darkey " ; and,
as there was no overt action, they were both let off
with the verdict of *^Not guilty; but don't do so
again."
But this godly people did drink whisky. It was
brought down the river from Kaskaskia, and was so
much in demand that the traders were encouraged to
exact for it exorbitant prices. To remedy this evil, the
court enacted that no jDcrson should be allowed to ask or
receive for good "Kaskaskia rum " more than one dollar
per gallon. This price having failed to attract the de-
sired supply, an enterprising individual announced his
intention to erect a distillery. This Eobertson opposed,
very much against the sentiment of the majority of the
people; and, fearing that the "constitutional right" of
his court to prohibit the erection would be questioned,
he went direct to the Legislature and procured the pas-
sage of a law with this preamble : " Whereas, crops be-
ing short, and grain scarce, owing to the obstruction of
agriculture by the withdrawal of planters and laborers to
oppose the infesting savages, sound discretion requires
that the grain should be preserved for the subsistence of
the settlers, and of the new immigrants upon their ar-
rival." Therefore, no distillations of corn or other grain
should be allowed in Davidson County. The speech which
Robertson is reported to have made on this occasion is
a model of oratorical brevity. It was simply, " The con-
THE DAY DAWNING. 09
perversion of the bounty of Providence. It is unservice-
able to white men, and devilish for Indians." Eobertson
held his own against the majority for fully three years ;
but then the appetites of his constituents got the better
of him, and a distillery was erected in the teeth of the
law and of his opposition. It was called the ^^Red
Heifer," and the custom of the distiller was to blow a
cow's horn whenever a ^'run" of the hot fluid was ready
for his thirsty customers. It was served out in a drink-
ing-cup made from the horn of a buffalo, and the West-
ern phrase, ** Taking a horn," is said to have originated
from this circumstance.
Among the other laws enacted by Robertson's court
was one establishing a legal currency, for even with their
primitive habits these people were given to buying and
selling. There was not a dollar of gold or silver in the
country ; and, therefore, Robertson had to look about for
some other circulating medium. In a like emergency
nearly every one of the colonies had compelled some prod-
uct of the land or forest to act as a legal tender. Rob-
ertson adopted about everything that could be worn or
eaten, and he affixed a price to '* bounty- warran ts " and
*' guard certificates" — which represented certain quan-
tities of land — thus making terra fir ma itself pass from
hand to hand like more portable articles. It became a
common expression to say, '^I will take, or give," a
"three- twenty," or a **^ six-forty " — those figures denot-
ing so many acres. A valuable six-hundred-and-forty
acre tract in the suburbs of Nashville was once sold
70 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
for ''three axes and two cow-bells/' and another for
''a good rifle and a clear-toned bell/'
Large numbers of Tories, who had been driven
from the older counties, began to arrive on the Cum-
berland soon after the war was over. Such as con-
ducted themselves like good citizens were allowed to
remain ; but all disorderly characters were driven away,
and took final refuge with the Chickamaugas, or with
the pirates along the Mississippi. Those who remained
were required to take an oath of allegiance ; but it was
enacted by the court that no one who had borne arms
against the country should hold any office, or consent to
be a candidate for any, under a penalty of fifty pounds.
This does not seem to have deterred some of the Tories
from aspiring to local honors, for the penalty was soon
increased to five hundred pounds. Robertson was will-
ing to allow to every man freedom of opinion, but none
could share in the government of the settlement who had
not been loyal to the united colonies.
The organization of a court naturally attracted law-
yers to the community. Two came, and soon afterward
a physician made his appearance. Their incoming was
deplored by Captain Rains, who predicted as a conse-
quence a scourge of lawsuits and diseases. The predic-
tion does not, however, appear to have been fulfilled.
The scanty records of the court are evidence of remark-
able harmony among the people ; and the small number
of deaths from natural causes shows that the doctor's
medicines, if taken, did no special damage to the com-
THE DAY DAWNING. 71
munity. This physician was the inventor of a famous
pill, which at first was universally popular ; but, it be-
ing soon discovered that it was compounded of bread
and sugar, his patients decided to take sick and die in
the natural manner !
A more important addition to the settlement was the
Kev. Thomas B. Craighead, one of the ablest and most
self-devoted of those pioneer preachers who did so much
for the civilization of the West. Robertson had pro-
cured the passage of an act incorporating the ^'^ David-
son Academy," and, meeting this gentleman at the State
capital, he i^iduced him to accept its presidency, and
join him on his return to the Cumberland. A log-
building was at once erected and a school opened, where
instruction was given in the ordinary English branches
at the rate, say the minutes, "of four pounds per annum,
to be paid in hard money, or other money of that value."
This was the beginning of the present ^' University of
Nashville."
The advent of Mr. Craighead was soon followed by
that of the Rev. Benjamin Ogden. Mr. Craighead was
a scholarly gentleman, fitted to grace the "academic
grove " ; but Ogden was one of that rare race of men who
have their homes in their saddles, write their sermons
on horseback, carry their libraries in the crown of their
hats, and preach wherever they happen to be — in the log-
church, the country school-house, or under some spread-
ing tree of the wide forest. These circuit-riders have
been the true evangelists of the backwoods — worthy dis-
72 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
ciples of the Master who ''had not where to lay his
head " ; and the good they have done will never be
known till the great day of accounting. At a later
time Mr. Ogden had a meeting-house at Nashville ; but
now he went about from hamlet to hamlet, proclaim-
ing everywhere the "glad tidings," and with such effect
that he soon had gathered no less than sixty-three iuto
the fold of the Methodist Church. As a result of his
preaching, small log-buildings began to spring up about
the settlements, to be used as school-houses on week-
days and as churches on Sundays. A description of one
of these primitive edifices I extract from an old chroni-
cle : * "A heavy piece of plank or hewn timber had
holes bored through it with a large auger, and four legs
inserted, and these were placed in front of the pulpit
and occupied by men and women, who all sat apart.
No book, no cushions, no kneeling-stools, no carpets —
the naked floor and hard seats ; and here the congrega-
tion would often remain patiently while two long ser-
mons were delivered. Long journeys were taken in
those days to attend religious services, and the people
always attended dressed in their best Sunday-clothes.
Mothers would carry their children for miles to enjoy a
'gospel feast.' Many of the poorer classes of young
women went on foot, and carried their shoes and stock-
ings in their hands, rolled up in cotton handkerchiefs,
till they came near the meeting-house, when they would
* Quoted in Clayton's " History of Davidson County."
THE DAY DATVNING-. 73
turn aside, array their feet, and appear in the congrega-
tion as neat as a new pin."
Following the peace with the Cherokees there were
for a time fewer depredations from the Indians ; but in
the summer of 1784 small bands again began to prowl
around the settlements. They soon became so trouble-
some that Robertson increased his force of scouts to
about a hundred, whom he kept, under Captain Rains,
constantly patrolling the forest. This, however, with-
drew so many from agricultural employments that at the
opening of the next Legislature he applied for a force of
three hundred men, to serve as a permanent guard, and
to open a wagon-road from the Clinch River to Nash-
ville, and, when it was finished, attend at stated points
to escort immigrants to the Cumberland. The law was
passed with the usual proviso '' that the moneys arising
from the tax of land west of the Appalachian Mountains
shall be appropriated to the purpose of discharging the
expense of raising, clothing, arming, and supporting the
troops to be embodied." The same act provided that
four hundred acres of land west of the mountains should
be laid off for six months' pay of each private, and a pro-
portionate quantity for any further service. The officers
of this guard, also, should be paid in a like manner.
The law was passed, but it was nearly two years be-
fore the force was fully raised. The men were recruited
principally in the Watauga district, and placed under
command of Nathaniel Evans, who had an honorable
record as one of Sevier's captains ; but as the troops
74 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERiNT CIVILIZATION.
could not well subsist upon land, the Davidson County
court levied a tax for their support upon the inhabit-
ants, ^^ payable in specifics," such as corn, beef, pork,
and other provisions, and a small amount in money to
defray the expense of delivery at the stations. Each
man was also entitled to receive in each year " one
blanket, one good woolen or fur hat, one pair of buck-
skin breeches, and one ditto waistcoat, lined."
When the road was opened, a larger number of immi-
grants began to seek the Cumberland region — not only
horsemen, carrying their entire household goods upon
a single led animal, but wagon-trains, laden with the
effects of a more wealthy class of settlers. The route
had never been trodden by immigrants, and the passage
across the mountain is described as picturesque beyond
description. Dark laurel-thickets, and frowning cliffs
and precipices, guarded the way to the summit-level,
where a boundless natural meadow stretched away in
all directions, walled in by gigantic ledges of stratified
limestone and sandstone, which had stood there in soli-
tude since the primeval ages. This — the Cumberland
Table-Land — was all a vast upland prairie, carpeted
with luxuriant grasses and flowering plants, and tenanted,
as far as the eye could see, by immense herds of elk,
deer, and buffalo, gamboling in playful security, undis-
turbed by the approach of man, and unterrified by the
explosion of his death-dealing rifle.
The appearance of this force of riflemen soon drove
away the marauding savages, and the incoming settlers
THE DAY DAWNING. 75
were not molested. Among those who now came in were
Valentine Sevier, the brother of John Sevier, and the
families of the brothers Bledsoe, and of Evan and Moses
Shelby, and John Donelson. The settlements were ex-
tended as far away as the present town of Clarksville ;
and in a census taken about this time to levy the tax for
the support of the soldiery, the number of white men
above twenty-one years is given as four hundred and sev-
enty-seven, and of male colored servants as a hundred and
five. Nashville shared in the general prosperity. It had
been laid out into two hundred one-acre lots, twenty-six
of which were at once sold at the price of four pounds
each, with the condition that the purchaser should build
and finish within three years one well-framed log, brick,
or stone house, "sixteen feet square at least, and eight
feet clear in the pitch." The place had now a court-
house, a jail, an academy, and a distillery, and nothing
further was wanted to make it a center of eighteenth-
century civilization but a store for the barter and sale of
general merchandise; therefore, great was the universal joy
when, one sunshiny day in March, 1784, ten pack-horses,
which had journeyed for six weeks from Philadelphia,
over the Cumberland Mountains, and all the way across
the State of Virginia, halted before a rough log-shanty on
the main thoroughfare, and unloaded their freight of pins
and needles, cheap calicoes and linens, and coarse woolens,
in the presence of the whole assembled township. Hereto-
fore the nearest market for the settler's peltries, and the
only place where he could procure any article of civilized
76 ADVANCE-GUAED OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
apparel, had been the store of General Wilkinson, at Lex-
ington, Kentucky ; but henceforth he was to have both
market and supply at his own doorway. This fact, more
than the presence of the fort, the court-house, the jail,
or the distillery, tended to make Nashville the metropo-
lis of the growing settlements.
It seemed now as if the colony were at last established
upon a secure and permanent basis, and that the faith,
courage, and fortitude of Kobertson were about to receive
their appropriate reward. No doubt he thought so, and
felt a thrill of pride when he looked on what his hands
had wrought. Few men have walked this earth with a
firmer tread, a clearer eye, a more upright soul than he ;
but even he could not discern the gathering cloud, or
hear the far-off, muttering thunder — the portent of the
storm of war which was about to burst upon the devoted
settlement.
CHAPTER IV.
A RAID UPOK THE CREEKS.
I2sr a previous volume,* I have given a brief outline
of the Spanish imbroglio which from 1784 to 1796
harassed the border settlements, and threatened to sever
the trans- Alleghany region from the Union. I need not
here repeat what is there said ; but, as that complication
entailed upon Eobertson twelve more years of savage
warfare, it is necessary, to a clear understanding of the
narrative, that some further reference should here be
made to it.
By the treaty with France of 1763, Great Britain had
acquired possession of all the territory along the eastern
bank of the Mississippi, and of the right to navigate
that river through its whole extent ; and when she
acknowledged American independence, she transferred
this territory, and right of navigation, to the United
States. It was subsequent to this cession that she
ceded to Spain her rights to the Floridas. As a conse-
quence, the American right was prior to that of Spain ;
* "John Sevier as a Commonwealth-Builder," pp. 103-112.
78 ADYANCE-GUAED OF WESTERN CIYILIZATION.
but Spanish troops had, during the Revolution, taken
from Great Britain some few feeble posts east of the
great river ; and on the strength of this Spain laid claim,
as early as 1780, to a portion of what is now Kentucky,
to all of Tennessee that lies west of the Hiwassee, Ten-
nessee, and Clinch Rivers, and to nearly the whole of the
present States of Alabama and Mississippi. The answer
to this claim was that, down to the thirty-first parallel,
all east of the Mississippi was within the American
boundary, and that the United States had never contem-
plated, or agreed upon, any division of territory with
their allies. Robertson had settled within these limits ;
and the importance of his settlement, in a national point
of view, was that, by virtue of it, possession had been
taken of this disputed territory by the United States.
Moreover, Robertson had opened a way over which Anglo-
Saxon immigration would speedily pass to the Mississippi
Valley. This would endanger the Spanish possessions west
of that river. Not only the principles of the two govern-
ments were antagonistic ; the character, sentiments, and
habits, of the two races were so at variance that they
could not exist together, or as near neighbors. The truth
was crudely expressed by a Creek chieftain. *^ Indians
and Spaniards," he said, ^^can ride the same pony — the
Indian on before. But Americans must always ride in
front. If they get up behind, they soon take the reins,
and manage the pony." This fact was well understood,
by the Spaniards.
The Count of Aranda, the able prime minister of
A RAID UPON THE CREEKS. 79
Spain, had advised Charles III to unite with France in
supporting the cause of the revolted colonies ; but he had
no sooner affixed his signature to the Treaty of 1783,
which acknowledged their independence, than he ad-
dressed a secret memoir * to his sovereign, in which he ex-
pressed the opinion that Spain had acted in opposition to
her interests in espousing the cause of the United States,
because the existence of a free government in America
would be highly dangerous to the Spanish- American
possessions. *^ This federal republic," he said, "is born
a pygmy. It has required the support of two such
powerful states as France and Spain to obtain its inde-
pendence. The day will come when it will be a giant, a
colossus formidable even to these countries. It will for-
get the services it has received from the two powers, and
will think only of its own aggrandizement. The liberty
of conscience, the facility of establishing a new popula-
tion upon immense territories, together with the advan-
tages of a new government" (meaning, doubtless, /ree)
" will attract the agriculturists and mechanics of all na-
tions, for men ever run after fortune ; and, in a few
years, we shall see the tyrannical existence of this very
colossus of which I speak
**The first step of this nation, after it has become
powerful, will be to take possession of the Floridas, in
order to have the command of the Gulf of Mexico, and,
after having rendered difficult our commerce with New
* "De Bow's Review," May number, 1847, p. 411.
80 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
Spain, it will aspire to the conquest of that vast empire,
which it will be impossible for us to defend against a
formidable power established on the same continent, and
in its immediate neighborhood. These fears are well
founded ; they must be realized in a few years, if some
greater revolution, even more fatal, does not sooner take
place in our Americas."
Events have shown that these views were prophetic.
They shaped the subsequent policy of Spain, and they
explain the tenacity with which she held on to every
acre of soil that would serve as a rampart to her
North American possessions ; and account for the du-
plicity, falsehood, and wholesale assassination, to which
she was ready to resort to cripple the power of the new-
born giant of the West. But watchful as she was of
the growth of this young Hercules, she seems to have
overlooked the fact that its advance-guard — few in num-
ber, but with the open Bible in their hands — had already
scaled the Alleghanies, and was even then proclaiming
civil and religious liberty at the very doorway of her
dominions.
The attention of the Spanish authorities appears to
have been first drawn to this fact, and its probable con-
sequences, by Alexander McGillivray, a half-breed chief
of the Creek nation. This man is one of the most pict-
uresque characters in Southwestern history, and, inas-
much as he exerted a strong influence upon the events
I am narrating, he requires here a few words of descrip-
tion. He was more a white man than an Indian. His
A RAID UPON THE CPwEEKS. 81
father was a Scotch gentleman of good lineage, and his
mother a Creek princess of the most influential family
in the nation. Her father had been a French officer of
Spanish extraction, and consequently McGillivray had in
his veins the blood of four races, while in his character
were the cliaracteristics of them all — the cool sagacity of
the Scotchman, the polished urbanity of the Frenchman,
the subtle duplicity of the Spaniard, and the unrelent-
ing hate and remorseless cruelty of the Creek Indian.
His natural talents were of a high order, and had
been carefully cultivated by his father's brother, who
had designed him for a civilized career ; but, on arriv-
ing at early manhood, he had preferred to go back
to his mother's people, among whom he soon rose
to the position to which he was entitled by the rank of
his family and his own uncommon ability. The Creeks
had no king, but a multitude of elective chiefs, each
one supreme in his own town, and independent of any
central authority. However, these chiefs usually acted
in concert, and submitted to the leadership of some one
of commanding abilities. Though not of their nation,
Oconostota, the famous king of the allied Cherokees, had
been their acknowledged leader for nearly half a cent-
ury ; but he was no sooner dethroned, than McGillivray
was admitted to supreme authority in the nation.
He at once assumed the degree of state that seemed
to him becoming to a leader of ten thousand redoubtable
warriors. He took to himself a number of wives, and
built and furnished as many ^^ palaces," where he dwelt
82 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
iu a sort of barbaric splendor, and entertained his visitors
with a prodigal hospitality. He never moved about
among his own people but with a numerous escort, nor
traveled among the whites without a brace of body-
servants, arrayed in gorgeous livery. His raiment was a
strange mixture of savagery and civilization, as also
was his nature, in which were blended the cultivated
gentleman and the wild Indian chief ; the polished Greek
and Latin scholar and the untamed savage, following the
trail of his enemy with the keen scent and ferocity of
the panther. His personal appearance, as described by
the historian of Alabama, was as peculiar as his charac-
ter. He was, it is said, six feet high, spare made, and
remarkably erect in person and carriage. His eyes were
large, dark, and piercing. " His forehead was so pecul-
iarly shaped that the old Indian countrymen often spoke
of it. It commenced expanding at his eyes, and widened
considerably at the top of his head. It was a bold and
lofty forehead. His fingers were long and tapering, and
he wielded a pen with the greatest rapidity. His face
was handsome, and indicative of quick thought and
much sagacity. Unless interested in conversation, he
was disposed to be taciturn, but even then was polite
and respectful."*
The same historian likens him to Talleyrand ; and
he had some of the qualities of that statesman, for he
succeeded in persuading British, Spaniards, and Ameri-
* Pickett's " History of Alabama," vol. ii, p. 142.
A RAID UPON THE CREEKS. 83
cans that he was honestly serving their interest, when
all the while he was only faithfully pursuing his own.
He pla3^ed them all like puppets against one another, and
so is entitled to rank as a rare if not a great diploma-
tist. He had actively aided the British in the Revolu-
tion, and in retaliation the Americans had confiscated
some of his property. This had excited his deep ani-
mosity ; and the war was no sooner over, than he deter-
mined to have his revenge by the extermination of every
American settler beyond the Alleghanies. This he could
accomplish only by a combination of all the Western
tribes, and by such an alliance with Spain as would
supply him with the requisite arms and ammuni-
tion.
The treaty of peace of September, 1783, was no soon-
er known to McGillivray, than he wrote to the Spanish
Governor of Pensacola, proposing a treaty of alliance
and commerce with Spain. In this letter he adroitly
alluded to the Western settlers, and spoke of their rapid
increase and progress toward the Mississippi, where, he
said, if they once formed settlements, it would require
"much time, trouble, and expense to dislodge them."
He also stated that the settlers were employing every
means to make his nation their friends, and that, if an
alliance were not effected between himself and the
Spaniards, the Creeks might become dangerous neigh-
bors by assisting the Americans in their hostile designs
upon Mobile, Pensacola, and the other Spanish posses-
sions.
84 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
This threat was not needed to bring the Spaniards
into the savage coalition, for both they and McG-illivray
had the same object. A treaty was accordingly entered
into between them at Pensacola on June 1, 1784, by
which the Spaniards agreed to supply McGilliyray with
arms and ammunition without limit, and, to whet his
zeal, promised him a private pension. Subsequent cor-
respondence between McGillivray and Miro, the Spanish
Governor of Louisiana, fully reveals the fact that the ob-
ject of this treaty was the total breaking up of all the
American settlements west of the Alleghanies. It was
intended to be secret, for the policy of the Spanish
Government was not to array itself in open hostility
to the newly-formed United States. However, to dis-
courage further settlements beyond the mountains, the
Spanish king announced to Congress that under no
circumstances would he consent to the navigation of the
Mississippi by the Americans.
The force which McGillivray relied upon to exter-
minate the Watauga and Cumberland settlers numbered
not far from twenty thousand warriors. He was him-
self the recognized head of eight thousand — six thou-
sand Creeks and two thousand Seminoles — he could rely
absolutely upon two thousand Chickamaugas ; and he
expected to encounter no difficulty in enlisting the re-
maining three thousand Cherokees, and seven thousand
Choctaws and Chickasaws. These Indians were the
bravest and most warlike on the American Continent,
and the Creek chief was justified in thinking that with
A KAID UPON THE CREEKS. 85
them lie could sweep Sevier and Robertson and their
forty-five hundred no better-armed riflemen beyond the
Alleghanies. The Kentucky settlers he would leave to
the Northern Indians, who gave so crushing a defeat to
General Saint Clair a few years later, and who, he
thought, could easily be brought into the coalition. It
was to be a similar combination to that planned by Te-
cumseh twenty-seven years later, and having the vast
advantage of operating against a far weaker enemy.
But one half of these Indians hung back from the
coalition — the three thousand Cherokees, from a dread
of John Sevier's rifles ; and the seven thousand Choc-
taws and Chickasaws, because of the friendship which
Piomingo, the Chickasaw chief, had conceived for Rob-
ertson. With less than the whole twenty thousand,
McGillivray deemed it hazardous to move against Sevier ;
for what Indian blood was in him shared the super-
stitious dread that was felt by the rest of his race for
the *' Great Eagle of the pale-faces." Hence, he de-
ferred a general attack until he could personally visit
the reluctant tribes and bring them into his measures.
Meanwhile he would give his immediate followers a taste
of blood by letting them loose upon the four hundred
and seventy-seven settlers who were holding their ground
with Robertson on the remote Cumberland.
The odds were terrible ; but again that heroic handful
withstood the overwhelming tide of barbarism. Once
more the Indians were on every by-path and around every
man's dwelling, and again all the settlers had to flee to
86 ADYANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
the fortified stations. Three of Kobertson's sons, his
trusted friends the two Bledsoes, and, in fact, nearly
all the leading men in the Cumberland settlements, were
struck down by the tomahawk before the conflict ended ;
but, where one old settler fell, two new-comers took
his place, and thus was that more than Eoman hero
enabled to continue the contest, and to hold that remote
outpost of civilization. Piomingo stood firmly by his
side, and even took the war-path against his enemies ;
but on two occasions it was only timely help from Sevier
that saved the settlements from extermination.
McGillivray did not at once descend upon the Cum-
berland settlers in oyerwhelming numbers. A war of
extermination did not at first comport with Spanish
policy. The end of Spain would be gained if the colo-
nists were driven beyond the Alleghanies. McGillivray,
therefore, let loose upon them at the moment only so
many of his savages as would suffice to drive away the
settler's game, stampede his cattle and horses, destroy
his crops and growing grain, and render his life so in-
secure that he would be glad to abandon the settlements.
This was the policy at first agreed upon between the
Creek chief and the representatives of his Catholic
Majesty.
The principal Creek towns were nearly three hun-
dred miles south from Nashville, and, to make a nearer
rallying-point for his warriors, McGillivray established
a village on the west bank of the Tennessee, near the
site of the present town of Tuscumbia, one of the most
A RAID UPON THE CREEKS. 87
charming spots in Alabama. The place was called
Occoposwo — a name which, in the Creek language, signi-
fies cold water — and it was so styled from a luxuri-
ant spring which gushes from a cave near the river, and
now supplies water to the neighboring village. From
this point the Indians could float down the Tennessee
to within a short distance of the Cumberland settle-
ments, and, though not much more than a hundred miles
away, could here secrete their booty in absolute security
— their locality unsuspected by the whites, for no Indian
town had ever been known in that region. Word of
the intended hostilities had been sent to the Chicka-
maugas, whose towns were higher up on the same river,
and a body of about sixty of that lawless tribe, under
the chief Scola-Cutta, or, as he was styled by the whites,
" Hanging Maw," were the first to go upon the war-path.
To this small party Kobertson himself came near fall-
ing a victim. He had gone into the forest, accompanied
by a surveyor, and Colonel Weakley, a prominent citizen,
when he was suddenly surrounded by this body of sav-
ages. His dogs were with him — some of the same fero-
cious creatures which had saved his life in the attack on
the fort at Nashville. Every settler kept a pack of these
animals, and he never ventured into the woods without
one or more of them. To their watchful sagacity he
often owed his life and the safety of his dwelling. They
had a natural antipathy to an Indian, and no length of
acquaintance, or amount of caresses, would avail to win
for him their confidence. If even a friendly Chickasaw
88 ADVANCE-GUAED OF WESTEEN CIYILIZATIOK
came to the settlements they would follow him about,
watch his every gesture, and thrust themselves between
him and their master on all occasions, with every evi-
dence of watchful animosity. In the forest they would
scent an Indian as they would a deer, and they could not
be quieted till their warnings were heeded. The most
of them were of a species of hound, of graceful form,
large pendulous ears, and eyes denoting great sagacity
and intelligence. Very docile with their masters, they
were very savage with his enemies. They were greatly
dreaded by the Indians, who often fled before them as if
they had been human antagonists. On this occasion the
dogs gave timely notice of the approach of ^^ Hanging
Maw " and his sixty Chickamaugas, and Robertson and
his companions at once sprang upon their horses and
made all speed to the fort. The Indians followed in a
desperate chase, for '* Hanging Maw " knew Robertson,
and it would have won him great glory to have killed or
captured the ^^ chief of the pale-faces." Robertson and
Weakley got away in safety, but the surveyor was over-
taken, shot down, and horribly mangled.
A few days subsequently this same body of savages
came upon a party of six surveyors, who had gone into
camp for the night upon a small island formed by a little
creek that flows into the Cumberland near the present
town of Williamsburg. The men had removed their hats
and shoes, and were gathered about the fire in prepara-
tion for the night's sleep, when suddenly their dogs gave
the usual warning of an enemy. The men listened, but.
A RAID UPON THE CREEKS. 89
knowing of no hostile Indians, they thought the alarm
was caused by wolves that were attracted by the remains
of their venison supper. Seeing in this no danger, they
heaped more logs upon the fire, and threw themselves
upon the ground around it for rest and slumber. This
all had done except John Peyton, the leader of the party,
when there was a sudden report from a score of near-by
rifles, and four of the six were more or less wounded.
Springing to his feet, Peyton threw his buffalo-robe over
the fire, to give his men a chance to escape in the dark-
ness. This they did, wounded as they were, and, after
incredible hardships and hair-breadth escapes, made their
way to Bledsoe's Station, forty miles distant. There
Peyton learned the name of the chief who had attacked
his party, and soon afterward he sent him word that he
would be welcome to the horses, guns, blankets, and other
articles he had captured, if he would return to him his
chain and compass. '^ Hanging Maw "sent this reply :
"You, John Peyton, ran away like a coward, and left all
your property. As for your land-stealer — I have broken
that against a tree."
These two attacks spread instant alarm throughout
the settlements, which now were scattered for fifty miles
up and down the Cumberland ; and the terror was in-
creased when it was soon discovered that the small band
of Chickamaugas had been re-enforced by much larger
numbers. The more exposed positions were at once
abandoned, and again all the people gathered together in
the stronger stations, as they had done during the previ-
90 ADYANOE-GUAKD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
ous war with the Cherokees. Once more it was death to
venture beyond rifle-range of a fort. Still, the conflict
was not so very unequal. Counting boys above sixteen,
the settlers able to bear arms now numbered above six
hundred, every one of whom was at once enrolled and
placed under competent captains. At least one half
of this force, under such experienced woodsmen as Eains
and Castleman, were kept in bodies of about fifty, con-
stantly patrolling the forest, and woe to the savages with
whom they came in contact ! A rifle never cracked but
it sounded the death-knell of an Indian ; but, where one
fell, another rose in his place, and so the bloody work
was continued.
What at first gave Kobertson the most concern was
the fact that the defeated Indians invariably retreated
westward, in the direction of the towns of his friends the
Chickasaws. This indicated that Piomingo was playing
him false, and that he had now to confront the Choctaws
and Chickasaws, as well as the lawless Chickamaugas.
This, surely, was bad enough, but it was worse to feel
his confidence abused — and he had trusted Piomingo im-
plicitly. He sent to him a plain " talk," frankly stating
his suspicions, and the grief they gave him. The an-
swer which came from the Indian chief gave assurance
of his friendship, but disclosed to Eobertson a more for-
midable enemy.
" The heart of Piomingo," said the chief, 'Ms sore at
the thought that has come to his white brother. His
heart is straight, and so is the heart of Piomingo. Not
A RAID UPON THE CREEKS. 91
one of Piomingo's young men has been upon the war-path
against the children of his white brother. The servants
of the King of Spain have been among the young men of
the Chickasaws, tempting them with large money to take
the scalps of his brother's white children, and to drive
them beyond the mountains ; but the young men would
not listen. The great enemy of the white chief is the
King of Spain ; he has seduced the Creeks to make war
upon him ; but why they have always come westward
when they have fled before his white brother, Piomingo
does not understand, unless they have built a town some-
where upon the great river Cherokee" (Tennessee) "in
which to hide their plunder. Piomingo does not love
the Creeks, and he will send some of his young men
upon a long hunt to find the town where they hide, that
his white brother may come upon and punish them as
they deserve."
The result was the discovery of the town of Cold-
water by two of Piomingo's warriors, whom he at once
dispatched to Robertson with directions to guide him
to the Creek stronghold. It would be a most hazard-
ous enterprise — the raid of a handful into the very heart
of the Indian country ; for, to leave the settlements
properly protected, Robertson would be able to take
only a small force on the expedition. But, at whatever
hazard, Robertson felt that something must be done
to stop the inroads of the savages upon the settlements.
Not a week passed but they were seen lying in wait
about some of the stations, and one by one the best
92 ADYANOE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIYILIZATIOK
men among the settlers were falling. John Donelson
had been shot down while riding alone in the woods ; and
only a few days before, Robertson's own brother, Mark,
had been waylaid, on returning from a social visit to his
family, and brutally slaughtered when within half a mile
of his dwelling. Sevier's tactics of carrying the war into
the enemy's country had always been successful, and
this now seemed to Robertson his only hope of securing
peace to the settlements. None of the settlers had ever
been south of the Tennessee, and a knowledge of the
country around Coldwater was essential to the success
of the expedition. Everything, therefore, would depend
upon the good faith of the Chickasaw guides ; but with
one of them — a chief named Toka — Robertson was well
acquainted, and he thought he could be trusted.
The expedition decided on, a call was made for volun-
teers, and one morning in June large numbers came
together at Robertson's plantation, about four miles west
of Nashville, known to this day as the ^' Camp-Ground."
Only one hundred and eighty were selected for the
expedition, but among them were Rains's and Castle-
man's rangers, every one of whom was skilled in wood-
craft, and equal to a dozen not familiar with Indian
warfare. All were well armed with rifles and hunting-
knives, and each one carried a plentiful supply of dried
meat and parched corn in his knapsack. A canoe of
rawhides, light enough to be borne on the back of a
horse, was taken along to ferry the arms and ammuni-
tion across the Tennessee, but the crossing of the men
A RAID UPOIT THE CREEKS. 93
was to be accomplished by swimming, or by means of
boats which the guides thought could be captured from
the Indians.
All being in readiness to set out, the men were
marched into Nashville, to take a farewell of their wives
and children, who had gathered there from all the near-
by stations. It was an anxious time, for all knew the
desperate character of the expedition, and mothers bade
good-by to sons, and wives to husbands, as if they
might never see them again. The little army was to
set out in two bodies : one portion, of a hundred and
thirty men, under Robertson, to proceed on horseback
through the forest ; the rest, under Moses Shelby and
Robert Hays, a son-in-law of Donelson, to make their
way in boats down the Cumberland and up the Tennessee.
The boats were laden with surplus provisions, and would
afford a comfortable conveyance to any who might be
disabled by wounds or sickness. The two parties were
to meet at a point on the Tennessee which is still known
as Colbert's Landing — so called from a Chickasaw chief
who there exacted toll from all who passed up and down
the river.
Leaving the settlements in command of Colonel
Bledsoe, Robertson set out on his hazardous expedi-
tion. His route lay through an unbroken forest, never
before trodden by a white man. Success depended upon
the secrecy of his movements ; and therefore, avoiding
the Indian trail over which the marauding Creeks had
come to the settlements, lest he should be seen and re-
U ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
ported by some roving band, he struck into the wide
wilderness, taking his way across swift mountain-streams
and through deep, rocky defiles, where often his men
had to dismount to cut a path for their horses amid the
tangled undergrowth. His only guide was the sun, for
the Chickasaws had followed the accustomed trail, and
knew no better than he the way through the untrodden
forest. Thus the party journeyed for a week, when,
about noon of the seventh day, they heard a low, rum-
bling sound, as of far-away thunder. The air was still,
the vertical sun shining in unclouded splendor ; there-
fore the sound could be no other than the distant roar
of the furious Tennessee where it races down the long
rapids still known as the Muscle Shoals. Near the foot
of those shoals was the town of Coldwater, and with
renewed courage the weary men pressed more eagerly
forward. Kaj)idly the sound came nearer, till it echoed
among the trees like the long roll of countless drums
calling them to battle.
At sunset they went into bivouac, and Eobertson
sent out the two Chickasaw guides, and a half-dozen of
his best woodsmen, to reconnoitre. Meanwhile, their
horses attended to, the men gathered around the camp-
fires for their evening meal, and to discuss in low tones
the chances of the day that was coming. Each one spoke
with bated breath, for all knew they were near the Creek
stronghold, and that any unusual sound might bring
upon them an overwhelming force of the enemy. Some
few of the number had been with the murdered Donel-
A RAID UPON THE CREEKS. 95
son on the memorable Sunday of March 12, 1780, when
with a hundred and thirty helpless women and children,
and but a slender guard, he ran those dangerous rapids
under a running fire from two thousand Chickamaugas ;
and now, as the dull roar of the falls came to their ears,
Kobert Cartwright, one of the adventurous guard, re-
hearsed to his comrades the story. He told how for
three long hours, at furious speed, the little fleet of
forty flat-bottomed boats and canoes plunged down those
thirty miles of whirlpool, the water foaming and eddy-
ing before them, and on either shore the remorseless
savage, his gun poised for their destruction ; how the
frail boats were dashed about in the rough river, caught
now upon some projecting rock, whirled now off into
the mad stream, and now shot forward with a velocity
so fearful that the weary voyagers momently expected
to be dashed in pieces. A watery grave yawned in their
front, a death still more horrible was on either flank ;
but those brave men, with iron sinews, bent to their
oars, and at last guided the frail fleet through in safety.
It was a stirring tale, and as the men listened each one
felt a thrill of vengeance, and longed impatiently for the
morrow. Doubtless they would encounter some of those
same savages at the Cold water.
At midnight the scouts returned, rejoorting the river
ten miles away, and yet so clear was the air that the
roar of the rapids seemed to be at not half that dis-
tance. Now the knowledge of the Chickasaw guides
became of value to the expedition. They had visited
96 ADYAiq^CE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
the place on but one occasion, but so keen is the obser-
vation of the Indian that, having once obtained their
bearings, the entire locality was distinctly mapped in
their minds. The town of Cold water was on the oppo-
site shore and several miles lower down the river ; and
due south from the encampment was a smaller town,
which now appeared to be deserted. At this point the
river was a mile in width, but the water was at so low a
stage that for three fourths of the distance it could be
forded ; the rest of the way would require a stout boat,
or a strong swimmer, for the current was rapid, and the
water foamed among breakers. Some miles higher up
was a better crossing, but with this the guides were not
acquainted. At Coldwater Robertson had expected to
encounter several hundred Indians, but the deserted con-
dition of the smaller town indicated that the most of
them were now away on marauding expeditions. If this
were so, his expedition would be well-nigh fruitless.
However, he would move forward to the river at the
nearest crossing, and then let his movements be governed
by circumstances.
Robertson had laid himself down under a wide-
branching tree for a few hours' sleep, when he was sud-
denly awakened by one of his outer pickets, who re-
ported that he had been fired upon by a strolling Indian.
The picket had pursued the '' rascal " for some distance,
but he was fleet of foot, and had got safely away into the
forest. He had fled toward the southeast — the direc-
tion of the Chickamauga towns in the vicinity of Look-
A RAID UPON THE CREEKS. 97
out Mountain — and a day's travel at an Indian's pace
would bring him to the lair of the banditti. This would
apprise them of the presence of Robertson, and one of
two results would follow : either they would surmise that
the whites were coming to attack them, and so would
remain to defend their homes ; or they would divine the
real object of the expedition, and drop down in their
canoes to the re-enforcement of Cold water. The first
was the more likely supposition, for Robertson was some
distance to the east of a direct course to the Creek
stronghold. This fact would probably mislead the
Chickamaugas for a time, but only for a time — as soon
as they discovered their mistake they would hasten to
the succor of their comrades. In either event the safety
of the expedition now depended upon the celerity as
well as the secrecy of its movements.
With the first glow of dawn the little army began
its march at a slow pace, and in utter silence. At
noon they came in sight of the broad Tennessee, skirted
here with a forest of cane, fifteen and twenty feet high,
and so dense that the crashing through it of a body of
horsemen would surely be heard by an enemy on the
opposite shore. Secrecy for the moment was of more
importance than celerity, so the men were halted in the
outskirts of the cane, while Toka and a few of the
rangers were sent forward to reconnoitre. Proceeding
cautiously on foot, they soon came to the bank of the
river, which here spreads out like a mountain-lake,
broad and sluggish, and, except in mid-channel, very
98 ADYAKCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
shallow. Secreting themselves in a cave at the water's
edge, the scouts anxiously scanned the river. Just above
them were the Muscle Shoals, uttering the same deep bass
which had greeted the dawn of creation ; and opposite
was the Indian town, silent and deserted, with not the
crow of a cock, or the yelp of a dog, to break the omi-
nous stillness.
So the men waited in utter silence till the west-going
sun was several hours below the meridian, and then the
quick ear of Toka caught a faint sound from among the
deserted cabins. Soon a couple of Indians crept down to
the opposite shore, and gazed cautiously up and down the
river. For a while they stood there in silence, as if listen-
ing intently ; then, hearing and seeing nothing to cause
alarm, they waded boldly out to a small island near to
that bank of the river. Here they unmoored a large
canoe which had been hidden among the cane, and pad-
dled out as if to cross to where the scouts were secreted.
Toka looked at his white companions, and each one un-
slung his rifle in readiness for their coming. But the
Indians halted in mid-river, abandoned the canoe to the
current, and plunged into the water. After disporting
in it for a time, they recovered the canoe, and paddled
back to the island. Then wading ashore, they disap-
peared in the forest ; and one of the men went back to
Robertson to report what they had witnessed. The in-
ference he drew was that the presence of his little force
was not yet discovered — the wary approach of the two
Indians to the river he attributed to the natural caution
A RAID UPON THE CPwEEKS. 99
of the savage. However, the incident showed that he
was in hourly danger of being seen by some straggler
from Coldwater, and he determined to cross the Tennes-
see that night at all hazards. If this were not done be-
fore the Indians had knowledge of his presence, a small
body of them might so post themselves as to render the
crossing extremely dangerous, if not altogether impos-
sible.
Eains had been dispatched up the river, with a small
party of rangers, to discover any movement in that direc-
tion ; and now a messenger was sent after him with
orders to return to the encampment. He soon ar-
rived, reporting that he had gone fifteen miles, but had
seen nothing. Evidently the Ohickamaugas were as yet
in ignorance of Robertson's movements. If they would
remain in that condition another twenty-four hours,
Robertson would let them dwell in security, for he was
not fool-hardy enough to court a conflict in the open
field with two thousand of the most savage warriors on
the continent. At last night came, and then with
his little army he moved cautiously forward to the
river.
The night was without a moon, but the sky was clear,
and the stars were out in their brightness. The rawhide
boat was launched, and loaded with the arms and ammu-
nition, and Robertson called for volunteers to swim to
the island, and bring over the canoe of the Indians.
Two expert swimmers at once came forward, and, with-
out any ceremony, plunged into the river and disap-
100 ADYANCE-GUARD OF WESTEPwN CIVILIZATION".
peared in the darkness. They were gone so long that it
was feared some mishap had befallen them, but at last
they returned with the canoe, accounting for the long
delay by saying they '''had got bothered in the darkness,
and swam a long time without making much headway,
but finerly tuck a star to course by, and landed safely."
The canoe was old and leaky ; but filling its rents with
some of their garments, about forty men embarked in it
and set out for the opposite shore. They had not gone
far before the leaky craft began to sink, and they were
obliged to return and repair damages. This consumed
the most of the night, for the woods had to be searched
for the bark of the linn- tree with which to patch the
rents ; and day had begun to dawn when the forty
were landed on the opposite shore. Stout swimmers had
at the same time propelled over the rawhide boat, and
now, supplied with their arms, the men took position to
repel any sudden assault from the Indians. Seeing that
their companions had safely crossed the river, the men on
the other bank now plunged into the stream, and — some
on tlie backs of their horses, and some swimming by
their sides — they all reached the opposite shore in
safety.
The sun had risen with a cloudless sky, but the men
had no sooner landed than one of those sudden storms to
which this region is subject burst upon them, and till it
was over the whole party took refuge in the deserted
cabins. Here they dried their clothes as well as they
could, and freshly primed their rifles, and then, the
A RAID UPOX THE CREEKS. 101
clouds clearing away, they mounted their horses. A
well-beaten path led directly from where they were to
the town of Coldwater, and entering this they moved
silently forward. At the distance of about five miles
they came to an Indian corn-field, which the guides re-
ported to be about two miles from the village. Here
they left the path, and, striking directly through the for-
est, soon came to the narrow creek which is formed by the
overflow of the spring that gave its name to Cold water.
About three hundred yards away was the Indian town,
and there, seated carelessly on the grass, were forty-five
Creek and Cherokee warriors, and nine French and Span-
ish traders — the larger number of the savages being away
marauding among the settlements. The canoes of the
Indians were moored at the mouth of the creek, and
expecting they would attempt to escape in them, Rob-
ertson dispatched Rains and a small force in that direc-
tion. The crossing of the creek, and the path beyond,
would admit of the passage of but one horseman at a
time, and in this order the little force now struck into
a gallop, Robertson leading the way.
The rest is soon told. Twenty-six Indians and four
of the traders were slain on the spot — some on the green,
and some by Rains in the river. The remaining traders
surrendered ; but the other savages escaped, to carry fire-
brands throughout the two Indian nations. Among the
killed were two prominent chiefs — one a Creek, the other
a Cherokee. A large amount of traders' goods were
found in the cabins, and also a plentiful supply of arms
102 ADVAISTOE-QUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
and ammunition bearing the brands of the Spaniards.
This last fact was convincing evidence that Spain was
abetting the Creeks in their attacks upon the settle-
ments.
The captured goods being removed to the canoes, fire
was set to the dwellings, and Coldwater went up in a
smoke that might have been seen as far away as Chicka-
mauga. Then, setting a strong guard, the little army
encamped for the night, and in the morning took up its
march homeward. A small force was detailed to man
the boats, which were to drop down to Colbert's Land-
ing, and there wait to ferry the others across the river.
The two bodies met there about sunset, when the prison-
ers were given a boat and their personal goods, and al-
lowed to go at liberty. At the same time Toka, and the
other Chickasaw, were each presented with a horse, a
rifle, and an abundance of the captured wares, and sent
away rejoicing to their nation. In nineteen days from
his setting out, Robertson was back at Nashville, with not
a man of his command wounded or missing.
A like good fortune did not attend the party of fifty
who set out by water for Colbert's Landing. They had
proceeded safely down the Cumberland, and were slowly
rowing up the Tennessee, when at the mouth of Duck
Eiver, Shelby's boat was fired upon by a large body of
Indians lying in ambush on the shore, and nine of his
men were more or less badly wounded. Drawing quickly
out of rifle-range, the officers of the several boats held a
consultation. They were propelling their way against
A EAID UPON THE CREEKS. 103
the current, and their progress would of necessity be so
slow that the enemy on shore could easily outstrip them,
and pour upon them a constant fire, against which their
open boats afforded no protection. Upon the entire route
they would be a slow-moving target for the enemy. It
was therefore decided to abandon the expedition. Ac-
cordingly, they fell rapidly down the river, with the in-
tention of returning to Nashville by water, for it was
at once discovered that two of the men were badly
wounded. One of them, Hugh Rogan, had been shot
entirely through the lungs ; another had received a bul-
let in his brain, and his wound soon proved to be mortal.
He was seated in the bow of the boat, spearing fish
with a sharpened cane when he received the shot, and
he continued in the same position, spearing imaginary
fish, and showing no sign of mortal hurt, till his
limbs suddenly relaxed, and he fell forward lifeless.
No doubt this was a phase of ^^unconscious cerebra-
tion," in which the ideas that were passing through
his mind at the moment he was shot continued to act
and control his muscles when he no longer consciously
directed his movements. The way home by water was
long and toilsome, while the distance overland did not
exceed a hundred miles ; but the officers thought the
land route could not be taken with the wounded Rogan.
Rogan, however, was of a contrary oi)inion ; and, shot
through the lungs as he was, he actually marched the
whole of the way, carrying his gun and accoutre-
ments !
104 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
In a report of tlie expedition which Eobertson at
once forwarded to the Governor of North Carolina, he
said : " From the constant incursions of the Indians, I
have been obliged to keep the militia very much in serv-
ice on scouts, guards, etc., and have been under the
necessity of promising them pay. I hope you will
ajoprove the promise I have made the inhabitants. I
have not an opportunity of seeing Colonel Bledsoe, or I
make no doubt he would join me in informing your
Excellency that our situation at present is deplorable.
Deprived of raising subsistence, and constantly harassed
with performing military duty, our only hope is in the
troops promised us by the General Assembly ; but
as yet we have no news of them. I earnestly beg
your Excellency to forward them with all possible
expedition." In closing his report Eobertson said :
"We were piloted by two Chickasaws in this expedi-
tion. Their nation seem on every occasion our friends,
and, if it were possible to supply them with trade at
the Chickasaw Bluff, there is no doubt but they and
the Choctaws would find full employment for our
Very few of the promised troops arrived, and the
trade " — guns and ammunition — was not furnished to
the friendly Chickasaws ; in other words, Eobertson was
left, as he had been from the first, to his own resources.
In these circumstances, desperate as the attempt would
be, he decided to follow up his raid upon the Creeks by
a like assault upon the Chickamaugas. Gathering a con-
<i
A RAID UPON THE CREEKS. 105
siderably larger force, he set out upon the expedition ;
but before he had reached the savage stronghold he was
met by a delegation from the Indians, who made such
promises of peace and good behayior that he was in-
duced to march his men back to the Cumberland.
CHAPTER V.
DARK DATS UPON THE CUMBERLAND.
The raid upon Coldwater, though it inflicted no
material damage upon the Creeks, was of service to
Robertson in disclosing the route by which the savages
approached the settlements. The captured guns and
ammunition also afforded positive evidence of the alli-
ance between the Indians and the Spaniards. He saw
now that he had a long and bitter war before him, and
he made such preparations to meet it as were pos-
sible in the circumstances. He sent out several expedi-
tions under Captain Rains to scour the forests in the
direction of the Elk and Tennessee Rivers, and that
vigilant officer never returned without having inflicted
severe punishment upon some marauding band on its
way to the Cumberland.
But, when one route was closed against the Indians,
they took another, and soon they were again upon every
by-path and around every station in the settlements.
They seldom appeared in considerable numbers ; but
parties of four or five would conceal themselves in the
canebrakes, or amid some clump of trees, and lie in
DARK DAYS UPON THE CUMBERLAND. 107
wait for the settler when lie went out to his work in the
field, or to a spring for a bucket of water. Now and
then larger bodies would boldly approach a station, and,
discharging their guns upon it, would suddenly retreat,
as if to get out of range of the settler's rifle, but in
reality to draw him off into an ambuscade. Often at
about daybreak they waylaid the gates of the forts, to
fire upon the first person who should appear in the
morning. No one was safe at any hour of the day or
night, and neither sex nor age was spared. A moment's
exposure brought upon the settler the merciless toma-
hawk and scalping-knife. If the savages had combined
their forces in concentrated assaults upon the vari-
ous stations in succession, instead of dissipating their
strength in numberless attacks at the same moment, it
is not easy to conceive liow the feeble settlements could
have escaped extermination.
McGillivray seems to have tired at last of this guer-
rilla warfare, which proved more destructive to his own
warriors than to the whites ; for, when it had gone on
about two years, word came to Robertson from the
Chickasaws that in a grand council the Creeks had
determined upon a final and overwhelming effort to
crush the Cumberland colony. Robertson was short of
ammunition, and totally unprepared for such an on-
slaught. At once he applied to North Carolina for aid ;
but Governor Caswell answered that it was impossible
to render him any. Then he made a trip into Ken-
tucky, and the settlers there promised to come to his
6
108 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
help as soon as they had harvested their crops. That
Eobertson feared would be too late, and, consulting
with Anthony Bledsoe, he decided to apply to Sevier.
Sevier had been the first thought of both, but they knew
that he was then ^''hunted like a partridge upon the
mountains." His own affairs seemed enough to engross
his attention ; but the emergency was so pressing that
Eobertson no longer hesitated to ask his assistance. Ac-
cordingly, he wrote to Sevier as follows :
" Nashville, August 1, 1787.
" Sir : By accounts from the Chickasaws, we are in-
formed that, at a grand council held by the Creeks,
it was determined by that whole nation, to do their
utmost this fall to cut off this country ; and we expect
the Cherokees have joined them. Every circumstance
seems to confirm this. . . .
'^ The people are drawing together in large stations,
and doing everything possible for their defense. But
I fear, without some timely assistance, we shall chiefly
fall a sacrifice. Ammunition is very scarce ; and a
Chickasaw now here tells us they imagine they will re-
duce our stations by hilling all our cattle, and starving
us out.
*^ We expect from every account that they are now on
their way to this country to the number of a thousand.
I beg you to use your influence to relieve us ; which I
think might be done by fixing a station near the mouth
of the Elk, if possible, or by marching a body of men
DARK DAYS UPON THE CUMBERLAND. 109
into the Cherokee nation. Eelieve us in any manner
you may judge beneficial. We hope our brethren will
not suffer us to be massacred by the savages, without
giving us any assistance ; and I candidly assure you
there never was a time in which I imagined ourselves in
more danger. . . .
*' Kentucky being nearest, we have apjolied there for
assistance, but fear we shall find none in time. Could
you now give us any ? The people here will never for
get those who are their friends in a time of such immi
nent danger. ... I hope that no diversion will prevent
you from endeavoring to give us relief, which will be
ever gratefully remembered by the inhabitants of Cum-
berland,
*^And your most obedient humble servant,
"James Kobertson."
At about the same time Anthony Bledsoe wrote to
Sevier, and his letter is here given in full, as it affords a
vivid picture of the situation. It was as follows :
" Sumner County, August 5, 1787.
'* Dear Sir : When I had last the pleasure of seeing
your Excellency, I think you were kind enough to pro-
pose that, in case the perfidious Chickamaugas should
infest this country, to notify your Excellency, and you
would send a campaign against them without delay.
The period has arrived that they, as I have good reason
to believe, in combination with the Creeks, have done
110 ADYANOE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
this country very great spoil by murdering numbers of
our peaceful inhabitants, stealing our horses, killing our
cattle, and burning our buildings ; through wantonness
cutting down our corn, etc.
*^I am well assured that the distress of the Chicka-
mauga towns is the only way this defenseless country
will have rest ; the militia being very few, and the whole
country a frontier, its inhabitants all shut up in stations,
and they, in general, so weakly manned that, in case of
an invasion, one is scarcely able to aid another — and the
enemy in our country daily committing ravages of one
kind or another, and that of the most savage kind.
Poor Major Hall and his eldest son fell a sacrifice to
their savage cruelty two days ago, near Bledsoe's Lick.
They have killed about twenty-four persons in Ms
county in a few months, besides numbers of others in
settlements near it.
''Our dependence is much that your Excellency will
revenge the blood thus wantonly shed.
"Your obedient servant,
"ANTHOi^T Bledsoe."
Sevier's answer to these two letters has not been pre-
served, but it is known that he at once called for volun-
teers to fill up the battalion of Major Evans to the three
hundred which the North Carolina Legislature had
assigned for the protection of the Cumberland settle-
ments — which battalion had never numbered above fifty,
owing to the disinclination of the men east of the mount-
DARK DAYS UPON THE CUMBERLAND. m
ains to fighting Indians on meager rations of wild land,
leather breeches, and parched corn at a yaluation of
four shillings per bushel. But the "tall Watauga boys"
were deterred by no such considerations. They sprang
up, ready armed, at the call of Sevier, and they asked
no questions about pay, or the condition of the commis-
sary department. Thus it was that in a very few- days
upward of two hundred of them, with an abundance
of ammunition, were marching over the Cumberland
Mountains to the re-enforcement of Evans.
This done, Sevier dispatched four hundred men to the
mouth of Elk River, as had been suggested by Robertson.
Stationed there, between the Chickamauga towns and the
Creek crossing at Cold water, this force would hold the
Creeks in check until Sevier and the Governor of Georgia
should muster an army adequate to an attack upon both
nations. That Sevier did this will be seen fi*om the
following letter which he dispatched to Governor Mat-
thews :
"Mount Pleasant, Franklin, August 30, 1787.
*'SiR : I had the honor to receive your favor of the
9th inst. by the express. ... I have inclosed your Ex-
cellency copies of two letters from Colonels Robertson
and Bledsoe, of Cumberland, wherein you wall be in-
formed of the many murders and ravages committed in
that country by the Creeks. It is our duty, and highly
requisite, in my opinion, that such lawless tribes be re-
duced to reason by dint of the sword. . . .
112 ADYANCE-GUARD OF WESTER?^ CIVILIZATION.
" I am yery sensible that few of our goyernments are
in a fit capacity for such an undertaking, and ours per-
haps far less than any other ; but, neyertheless, be as-
sured that we will encounter eyery difficulty to raise a
formidable force to act in conjunction with the army of
your State in case of a campaign. . . .
**Our Assembly sat but a few days. The only busi-
ness of imj^ortance done was the making a proyision for
the defense of our frontier, by raising four hundred men,
which is nearly completed. They are to be stationed in
the vicinity of Chickamauga, and in case of actual opera-
tions against the Creeks this number will be [at once]
ready. "
At this yery time Seyier was concerting with Govern-
or Matthews for a combined attack upon the Creeks,
with a force of three thousand, one half of which he had
agreed to furnish. The attack was not made, because of
the appointment by Congress in October, 1787, of com-
missioners to treat with that nation. Sevier, however,
soon called for a larger body of volunteers, and de-
scended with fire and sword upon the Chickamaugas,
thus diverting them, for a time, from their raids upon
Eobertson.
To appreciate these efforts of Sevier for the relief of
the Cumberland settlers, it needs to be considered that —
there being no funds in the Franklin treasury — his
troops had to be equipped at his personal cost, and that
he was now under the ban of outlawry by the au-
thorities of North Carolina, who soon afterward kid-
DARK DAYS UPON THE CUMBERLAND. 113
napped and conveyed him over the mountains to be tried
for high-treason. Thus aid to Eobertson came, not from
the State which owed his people protection, but from the
hounded and badgered man to whom that State was in-
debted for its very existence !
The sudden appearance of Sevier's men in the Chick-
amauga country must have been regarded by McGilli-
vray as the advance of a larger body ; for he prudently
kept his warriors at home to defend their own wigwams.
The timely re-enforcement put Eobertson in a much
better posture for defense, and he further augmented his
effective strength by using the authority given him by
the Legislature to call into service the new settlers who
had come in under the escort of the troops. His whole
force he organized into scouting-parties, which, under
experienced leaders, he sent out to scour the country in
all directions. It was the practice of the Indians to enter
the settlements in considerable numbers, but then to
separate into small bodies, and make their camps near the
buffalo-trails, or the crossings of streams, in the vicinify
of the stations ; but now it became extremely hazard-
ous for any considerable number to come within fifty
miles of any of the settlements. The ground through-
out the forests was everywhere covered with a deep
layer of leaves, over which a trail could be distinctly
followed ; and to esca^^e the scouting-parties the Indians
were now obliged to break into bodies of not more than
half a dozen, and to keep generally to the beds of creeks,
or the hard-beaten paths of the buffalo where their foot-
114 ADYANCE-GTJARD OF WESTERJf CIVILIZATION.
prints would not betray them. Here they were searched
for, and waylaid by the sagacious woodsmen, and here
many a savage left his bones, far away from tlie burial-
ground of his nation.
Still, the sleepless yigilance of the scouts did not
altogether save the settlements from the devastations
of the Indians. If a farm-house were for a moment left
unguarded, or a fort weakly defended, there echoed about
it the war-whoop, and the hapless settler was forced to
encounter the tomahawk and scalping-knife of his sav-
age enemy. Murders and depredations continued till
far into the autumn ; but, in consequence of the recent
re-enforcements, the very existence of the settlements no
longer depended upon the presence of Robertson, there-
fore he took his accustomed seat at the session of the
North Carolina Legislature in October. He soon ad-
dressed some plain words to that body, which, after his
custom, he put into the form of a memorial. The ad-
dress stated that the inhabitants of the Western country
were greatly distressed by the constant war that was
waged against them by the Creeks, Cherokees, and some
of the Western Indians ; it pictured the deplorable con-
dition of the settlers, their crops and cattle destroyed,
and their lives in danger whenever they lost sight of a
fort or stockade ; and it added : ** These counties have
been settled at great expense and personal danger to our-
selves and our constituents ; and by such settlement the
adjacent lands have greatly increased in value, by which
means the State has been enabled to sink a considerable
DARK DAYS UPON THE CUMBERLAND. 115
part of its domestic debt. We and our constituents have
cheerfully endured almost unconquerable difficulties in
settling the Western country, in full confidence that
we should be enabled to send our i^roduce to market
through the rivers which water the country ; but we
have the mortification, not only to be excluded from
that channel of commerce by a foreign nation, but the
Indians are rendered more hostile through the influence
of that very nation, probably with a view to drive us
from the country, as they claim the whole of the soil.
We call upon the humanity and justice of the State to
prevent any further massacres and depredations of our-
selves and our constituents, and we claim from the Leg-
islature that protection of life and property which is due
to every citizen. We recommend, as the most safe and
convenient means of relief, the adoption by the Legisla-
ture of the resolves of Congress of the 26th of October
last. This relief, we trust, will not be refused, espe-
cially as the United States are pleased to interest them-
selves on this occasion, and are willing to bear the ex-
pense."
The resolves of Congress alluded to were a recom-
mendation of that body to all the States holding Western
Jands to cede the same to the General Government, for
the creation of a fund for the payment of the national
debt. The new Constitution had been framed only a
few weeks before, and its adoption by the States was as
yet uncertain ; therefore, Robertson and his constituents
were committing themselves to an unknown contin-
116 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN OIYILTZATION.
gencj, and, at the best, submitting to the control of a
distant power which had no knowledge of their situation
and necessities. All this they realized, but any change,
they thought, would be an improvement on the parsimo-
nious rule of North Carolina.
The memorial was respectfully received, and, after a
long discussion, the settlers were fully authorized — to
take care of themselves. An act was passed empower-
ing them to adopt all offensive and defensive measures
that might be necessary to their security, '' provided
always" that they should make no claim, and impose
no charge, upon the State treasury. This much ac-
complished, Robertson returned to his constituents.
The bloody work had continued in his absence.
Evans and Rains, and the two Bledsoes, had been con-
stantly in the saddle ; but the experienced Indian fight-
ers furnished by Sevier had been able, in numberless
small engagements, to put to rout and drive off the
savages. The Indians now never appeared except about
the more exposed forts and farm-houses ; but they still
infested the settlements, and reports again came from
the Chickasaws that the Creeks were still contemplating
a raid in such numbers as to sweep the settlers beyond
the Alleghanies. If he could but have guns and ammu-
nition, Piomingo would march with them to exterminate
that pestiferous nation.
But arms could not be had. Korth Carolina would
not furnish them, and they could not be procured else-
where, because there was no money among the settlers.
DARK DAYS UPON THE CUMBERLAND. II7
Peltries and produce they had in abundance, but, the
Mississippi being closed against them by the Spaniards,
by no means could they be got to market. In these
circumstances Eobertson decided to resort to diplo-
macy with the Creeks and Spaniards. He had an
utter abhorrence of both those nations. He once said :
" The Spaniards are inspired by the devil ; the Creeks
by the devil and the Spaniards; and the worst devil
in human form is the Creek chief, McGillivray." Dur-
ing his recent visit into Kentucky he had met Gen-
eral James Wilkinson, who had told him that he
thought the Spaniards would open the Mississippi, and
desist from inciting the Indians to hostilities, if they
were assured that the settlers could be attached to the
Spanish interest. Dissatisfaction, he said, with the older
States was general throughout Kentucky and Tennessee.
Of this the Spaniards were well aware, and they could
doubtless be led to adopt a conciliatory policy toward
the settlers if they had hope to thereby detach the
Western country from the Union. Having turned the
thought over in his mind, Robertson now acted on this
hint from the wily Wilkinson. The settlers had given
the Creeks no cause for hostility. They had not en-
croached upon their territory, nor made war upon
them except in defense of their own firesides. If other
proof had been wanting, this made it evident that their
murderous raids were instigated by the Spaniards.
Robertson had corresponded with Miro, the Spanish
Governor of Louisiana, and, to secure his good-will.
118 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
had eyen named the Cumberland district in his honor.
In return he had received from Miro the most friendly-
professions, but no cessation of hostilities. He now
decided to address McGillivray, whom he regarded as
the. most potent agent of Spanish hostility. This he
thought might lead to such negotiation as would result
in a suspension of hostilities. Accordingly, early in
March, 1788, in connection with Anthony Bledsoe, he
addressed to McGillivray a letter inquiring the reason of
the continued raids of the Creeks upon the settlements.
This letter Robertson dispatched by two special
messengers, James Hoggatt and Andrew Ewing, Clerk
of the County Court, who in delivering it had to make
a horseback-journey of more than five hundred miles
through a forest infested with hostile savages. But they
went and came in safety, and were received with courtesy
by the Creek chieftain. In his reply McGillivray ad-
mitted that he had waged war upon the Americans for
several years past ; but stated that he had made up his
mind to peace, when he was provoked to renewed hostili-
ties by the affair at Muscle Shoals, in which several of
his tribe had been killed; and he added : *^ These men
belonged to different towns, and had connections of the
first consequence in the nation. Such an unprovoked
outrage raised a most violent clamor, and gave rise to the
expedition against Cumberland which soon after took
place. But, as that affair has been since amply retali-
ated, I now, once again, will use my best endeavors to
bring about a peace between us. Indeed, before I re-
DARK DAYS UPON THE CUMBERLAND. 119
ceived your dispatches I had given out strict orders that,
on the return of all hunting-parties, none should go out,
on any pretense, until the first general meeting, which
I expect to hold in May next, when all my influence and
authority will be exerted in the manner you wish. . . .
As I abhor every species of duplicity, I wish not to
deceive. If I were not decided in settling and terminat-
ing the war, I would not now write."
The comment on these peaceable professions of Mc-
Gillivray was the cold-blooded murder by some of his
myrmidons of a young son of Robertson, in broad day,
and within scarcely more than a stone's-throw of his fa-
ther's dwelling ! The murder was committed on the eve
of the return of the messengers, and the scalped and
mangled remains of his son were still unburied when
Robertson read this letter of the Creek chieftain. But,
mastering his grief, he replied to McGillivray in terms
of courtesy. He had not expected, he said, to be blamed
for his recent expedition against the Indians below the
Muscle Shoals. They were known to be a lawless ban-
ditti, subject to the regulations of no nation whatever.
He had been recently subjected to the agony of seeing
one of his own children inhumanly massacred — a shock
which almost conquered the fortitude that, from his
earliest youth, he had endeavored to use as a shield
against the calamities of life. He had on numberless
occasions shown a friendly disposition toward the Creeks
and Cherokees, and he besought McGillivray to restrain
and punish the refractory part of his nation, as the only
120 ADYANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
means of securing peaceful relations. Here his feelings
as a man seem to have overcome him, and with a pathos
that is touching in its simplicity he added : **' It is a
matter of no reflection to a brave man to see a father, a
son, or a brother, fall in the field of action. But it is
a serious and melancholy incident to see a helpless
woman or an innocent child tomahawked in their own
houses. ''
To this letter McGillivray replied in a most friendly
tone. ''He had already," he said, '^ endeavored to re-
strain the Chickamauga chiefs. Little Turkey and Bloody
Fellow, from further hostilities, and he should persist in
measures that would keep his own warriors from again
molesting the Cumberland settlers." But this pacific
missive, like his previous letter, had a bloody commen-
tary.
Next to Robertson, Colonel Anthony Bledsoe was the
most valuable member of the Cumberland community.
He was an educated man, of cool courage, sound judg-
ment, and wide experience in public affairs, having held
various civil and military positions of importance, in the
older settlements. His relations with Sevier, Governor
Caswell, and other prominent men were of an intimate
character, but for many years he had been the bosom
friend and trusted counselor of Robertson, who, since
Bledsoe's arrival on the Cumberland, had acted in no
affair of importance without his advice and co-operation.
In the event of Robertson's death, he was probably the
only man in the settlement who could have brought it
DARK DAYS UPON" THE CUMBERLAND. 121
safely out of the fiery ordeal throngli which it was pass-
ing. He had settled about thirty-five miles from Nash-
ville, at a place now called Castalian Springs, where he
had a large landed property, but during the recent raids
he had for greater security removed his family to the
station of his brother Isaac, about three miles distant
from his own. The stockade was of the ordinary con-
struction, having at one of its corners a double cabin,
occupied one half by his own, the other by his brother's
family. In this station on the night of the 20th of
July, 1788, were the two Bledsoes, an Irishman named
Campbell, the colonel's body-servant, a Mr. Clenden-
ing, William Hall, the father of a subsequent Governor
of Tennessee, and Hugh Rogan, who had but recently
recovered from the wound through the lungs which he
received on the Coldwater expedition. Suddenly about
midnight all in the building were roused from sleep by
the rapid passage of a body of horsemen through the
lane in front of the station. Colonel Bledsoe at once
arose, and, with his body-servant Campbell, went out to
ascertain the cause of the disturbance. He incautiously
unfastened the gate, and as he did so a volley was fired
which brought him to the ground, and instantly killed
his body-servant. Bledsoe was taken up, carried into the
house, and laid upon a bed, while Hall, Rogan, and Clen-
dening, manned the port-holes in expectation of an attack
from the savages. 'No attack followed, but it was soon
discovered that Colonel Bledsoe was mortally wounded,
and could live but a few hours. Then occurred one of
122 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
those instances of heroism which were so common among
these settlers. Bledsoe had two sons and several daugh-
ters, and, by the North Carolina laws of the period, only
male heirs inlierited the real estate of an intestate. He
desired to make a will to protect the interest of his
daughters ; but it was discovered that there was no fire,
nor any means of striking a light, on the premises. Then
Hugh Rogan volunteered to go for a light to a neighbor-
ing station. This he did, and returned safely with a
burning brand in his hand, though he had to run the
gantlet of not less than fifty savages.
With this grief, and the loss of his son fresh upon
him, Robertson called his confidential friends together to
confer upon the answer to be given to McGillivray. He
was a man of heroic mind, and of a fortitude rarely
equaled ; but now his human heart was sorely tried, his
manly nature rudely shaken. As the twofold calamity
was alluded to at this gathering, and his friends spoke to
him words of sympathy and condolence, he answered, in
broken sentences: '^I could have given up my boy to
secure a permanent peace. That should have been
enough. I could now give my own life to atone for any
wrong we have done the Creeks. But we have done
them no wrong. They have waged against us an unpro-
voked war ; and now they have killed our best citizen,
and they constantly seek my life."
He uttered no threats — spoke no word of vengeance ;
but addressed himself, with unselfish thought, to the
welfare of the settlements. His answer to McGillivray
DARK DAYS UPON THE CUMBERLAND. 123
was cool, collected, and diplomatic. He was satisfied
that the Creek chief was playing him false, but he be-
trayed no such suspicion. He said :
"Sir : I received your favors by Messrs. Hoggatt and
Ewing, which have given great satisfaction. I trans-
mitted copies to Governor Caswell, and have since seen
them published in the * Kentucky Gazette.'
'*^The Indians still continue their incursions in some
measure, though trifling to what we experienced in the
spring. I imagine it must be Cherokees, or some out-
lying Creeks who are not acquainted with your orders.
Colonel Anthony Bledsoe was killed by a small party
about two weeks ago." ....
This is all he says about the murder of his nearest
friend. Then, with Wilkinson's suggestion in his mind,
he retorts upon McGillivray some of his double-dealing
in the following significant paragraph : ^' In all prob-
ability, we can not long remain in our present state, and
if the British, or any commercial nation who may pos-
sess the mouth of the Mississippi, would furnish us with
trade, and receive our produce, there can not be a doubt
but that the people west of the Appalachian Mountains
will open their eyes to their true interests. I shall be
very happy to have your sentiments on these mat-
ters."
Eobertson had no positive knowledge of the treaty
existing between the Creeks and the Spaniards, but he
judged that his letter would be promptly forwarded to
124: ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
the Spanish Governor at New Orleans. In this he was
not mistaken. But in the same dispatch in which he
inclosed Robertson's letter to the Spanish Governor,
McGillivray asked for additional arms and ammunition
that he might continue an unflagging war upon the Cum-
berland settlers ! This fact McGillivray's correspond-
ence, published in recent years, fully discloses.
In reference to these overtures of Robertson, Hay-
wood, the early historian of Tennessee, remarks : '^ Some-
times the leaders of our unprotected settlers, pretending
esteem for their officers, and a wish to be under their
government, would procure an abatement of the horrors
of war. But liberty to these settlers was of more value
than all the benefits the Spaniards had it in their power
to bestow. And though leaders might, in calamitous
times and circumstances, think proper to temporize, they
could never entertain the serious wish to coalesce with
them. All the wealth of the Spaniards could not bear
comparison with the single article of liberty."
CHAPTER YI.
THE SPANISH COMPLICATION".
To understand the subsequent history of the colony
under Robertson, it is necessary to now take a wider view
of affairs west of the Alleghanies. The settlers on the
Cumberland were merely the advance of a far larger
body that, since 1770, had been climbing the mount-
ains and overspreading the territory which now com-
prises the States of Tennessee and Kentucky. The
population of this extensive region, at the date to which
this history has now arrived (1788), can not be stated
with accuracy, but it was probably not far from eighty
thousand. In 1790, by actual census, it numbered
109,368— much the larger portion (73,677) being in-
cluded within the district of Kentucky. Though under
the rule of two States, which pursued toward their over-
mountain citizens a totally opposite policy, the settlers
in the northern and southern sections of this territory
were, to all intents and pur^wses, one people. They
were exposed to the same dangers, bound together by
common interests, and affected in a similar manner by
126 ADVAT^CE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
the complications which soon after the Eevolution arose
between the United States and Spain, in regard to the
navigation of the Mississippi. The danger by which
they were mutually threatened arose from the hostility of
the savages ; the principal interest they had in common
was the opening of an avenue for their commerce to the
markets of the world.
It is not known what success attended McGillivray's
effort to combine the Northern tribes in an attack upon
the Kentucky settlements. It is probable that it was so
far successful that those Indians agreed to come into the
coalition, and planned a gigantic raid upon Kentucky,
for in the autumn of 1784 it was reported everywhere
in the district that, in connection with the Cherokees,
they were about to descend upon it in overpowering num-
bers. The alarm was so general that Colonel Benjamin
Logan called a convention of citizens to meet at Danville,
to concert measures for anticipating the attack by carry-
ing the war into the enemy's country.
The convention met, but soon discovered that no
legal authority existed in the district which could call
out the militia for offensive operations. This, together
with the fact that there was no magazine of arms in the
country, nor any public funds that could be applied to
the purchase of war material, was seen to place the set-
tlers largely at the mercy of the savages. The State
government had already complained of Western expendi-
tures. In case the citizens should arm and equip them-
selves, might not Virginia refuse to reimburse the ex-
THE SPANISH COMPLICATION. 127
penditure, and *'even to compensate for real losses"?
At an earlier day, when their very existence had been at
stake, every man had sprung spontaneously to the de-
fense of the community ; but now, when they were so
strong in numbers as to be free from danger of extermina-
tion, some legal organization was needed to raise money
for war purposes, enforce military duty upon the reluc-
tant, and conduct offensive operations— the only ones
which experience had shown to be efficient in the ward-
ing off of savage aggression. The State administration
was well disposed, but it was at too great a distance to
act promptly in sudden emergencies. An efficient home
government was absolutely necessary to the well-being
and safety of the district. This was the universal senti-
ment, and it led the assemblage to issue a call for a con-
vention to meet at Danville in the ensuing December, to
take into consideration the expediency of "a separation
of the district from the parent Commonwealth, and its
erection into an equal and independent member of the
American confederacy." This was the first step taken
by Kentucky toward a separate existence, and then began
an agitation which during seyeral years had a most un-
happy effect upon the entire Western country.
Not being able to initiate offensive operations, the
district took the best defensive measures that were possi-
ble in the circumstances ; but for some unexplained rea-
son the Northern Indians refrained from any general
attack upon Kentucky. They confined themselves to a
desultory warfare — descending in small bodies upon iso-
128 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
lated farm-houses or exposed positions, and waylaying
unprotected immigrants as they were moving down the
Ohio. In this manner, says Judge Innis, in a letter to
Henry Knox, Secretary of War, of date July 7, 1790,
'^from November, 1783, to the time of writing, fifteen
hundred souls have been killed in the district and emi-
grating to it, upward of twenty thousand horses have
been taken and carried off, and other property to the
amount of at least fifteen thousand pounds."* Such a
warfare was sufficiently grievous, but it did not, like that
waged against the Cumberland settlements, endanger the
very existence of the community. More severely felt
was the hostile policy of Spain, which closed the Missis-
sippi to Western commerce.
The border settlers were altogether an agricultural
peoj^le, and dependent upon the sale of their produc-
tions for the tea, coffee, and other articles of luxury they
had been accustomed to in the older settlements. But
a wide wilderness, infested by hostile Indians, separated
them from the frontier settlements of Virginia and
Pennsylvania. The shortest route to Staunton was five
hundred miles, and it could be traveled only by a well-
mounted horseman. Extensive exchanges over the
mountains were therefore impossible. The lighter kinds
of merchandise could be brought by that route on
pack-horses, and the heavier descriptions hauled by
wagons to Pittsburg, and thence floated on keel-boats
* Quoted in Butler's " History of Kentucky," p. 195.
THE SPANISH COMPLICATION. / 129
down the Ohio ; but the trip consumed several months,
and the transit was so expensive as to place all imported
goods beyond the means of any but the wealthier part
of the population. The natural thoroughfare for both
outgo and supply was the Mississippi Eiver.
The closing of that river by the Spaniards, which thus
shut the Western people out from the markets of the
world, was not at first of serious moment, because the
fast-incoming settlers readily consumed the surplus grain
that was raised ; but when tobacco began to be grown,
and the new-comers became themselves grain-producers,
it was universally seen that its free navigation was an
absolute necessity to the whole Western country.
In the treaty of peace of 1783 was a secret article
which stipulated that, in case Great Britain should ac-
quire West Florida, the southern boundary of the
United States should be extended so as to include that
province, which was the acknowledged possession of
S^min. This stipulation soon became known at Madrid,
and, stung with indignation at this parceling out of his
dominions, and already resolved upon the policy of ex-
termination suggested by McGillivray, the Spanish king
lost no time in dispatching a message across the ocean,
informing Congress that until Spain should admit that
the boundary between her possessions and the United
States was correctly described in the English treaty, she
should assert her claim to the sole navigation of the Mis-
sissippi, and should exclude all American vessels from
its waters.
130 ADYANOE-GUAKD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
Prior to this, Congress had directed its attention to
commercial intercourse with foreign nations, and, on re-
ceipt of the Spanish message, it promptly appointed John
Jay, then Secretary of State, a special envoy to Madrid,
to conclude a commercial treaty, but instructed him
not to relinquish, in any negotiation, the right of navi-
gating the Mississippi from its source to the ocean.
Jay did not at once set out on the mission, and, before
he could sail, Don Diego Gardoqui arrived in this coun-
try, with full authority from Spain to treat upon the
subject. This allowed the negotiation to be conducted
at home, under the very eye of Congress.
Gardoqui presented his credentials on the 2d of July,
1785, but before that time the pretensions of Sjoain
were fully understood in the Western country, and the
settlers had experienced the ejffects of her exclusive
policy. Their produce was already a drug for want of a
market. Pork and flour were selling at one dollar and a
half per hundred, corn at ten cents a bushel, while tobac-
co was rotting on the ground, with no buyers whatever.
A majority of the settlers knew nothing of international
law, and they stood in no awe of a power which to their
eyes was represented by a few log huts at Natchez and
St. Louis, and a mongrel population of less than five
thousand near the mouth of the Mississippi.* They
* The population of New Orleans in 1785 was 4,980; and that of the
entire district of Louisiana, 31,433. About one half were negro slaves,
the remainder French, Spaniards, and half-breeds.
THE SPANISH COMPLICATION^. 131
had, they thought, a natural right to navigate the water
that flowed in front of their own doorways, and that
right they should assert in defiance of Spain and Eastern
diplomacy. This was the general feeling among the
mass of the people ; and one Thomas Amis, more hold
or more reckless than the rest, seems to have determined
to put the Spanish pretensions to the test of experiment.
He had produce which was needed by the Spaniards, and
he was confident that a profitable trade could be opened
with their settlements along the river. Accordingly, he
freighted a flat-boat with flour and other merchandise,
and set out on his way down the Mississippi. He en-
countered no obstacle till he came abreast of the fort on
the high bluffs of Natchez, but there he was unceremoni-
ously brought to, his boat and cargo confiscated, and he,
as a special act of mercy, released from arrest, and al-
lowed to proceed afoot through the woods to Kentucky.
The way was long, and several months elapsed be-
fore Amis reached his home on the Ohio. Every-
where he went he told his story, and everywhere he
found sympathizing listeners. With the marvelous
speed at which news travels in sections destitute of
mail facilities, his tale spread over the whole Western
country, arousing everywhere the most intense indigna-
tion. And on the heels of it came tidings that Con-
gress had concluded a treaty with Spain which would
close the Mississippi for twenty-five years to Western
commerce ! The report was not true ; but it was so near
the truth as the fact that such a treaty had lacked
7
132 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
only the vote of two States to secure its confirma-
tion.
The Spanish envoy had opened the negotiation with
Mr. Jay by the explicit declaration that his master, the
king, would not consent that the United States or any
foreign power should navigate the Mississippi below the
thirty-first parallel. To this Mr. Jay had replied that
" the adjacent country was fast filling with people, and
that the time must soon come when they would not sub-
mit to seeing a fine river flow before their doors without
using it as a highway to the sea for the transportation of
their productions " ; * and he represented the wisdom of
forming such a treaty as would avoid all causes of future
discord. To these appeals Gardoqui was deaf, for he
had distinct instructions, and doubtless knew the secret
intentions of his government. But, the navigation be-
ing waived, he announced his readiness to form a com-
mercial treaty that would be highly advantageous to the
United States — would open Spanish ports to their com-
merce, and bring in an unlimited amount of gold and
silver in exchange for American productions. It was
clear to Mr. Jay that such a treaty would vastly benefit
the seaboard States, and improve the financial condition
of the entire country. A large proportion of the evils it
suffered were owing to a decayed and languishing com-
merce, and these would be removed by the proposed
treaty, which could be made at the mere cost of shutting
* Pitkin's " History of the United States," 182a
THE SPANISH COMPLICATION. 133
up for a few years a river that was practically useless to
a sparsely-settled, agricultural people.
Convinced at last that he could not move the Spanish
envoy from his position, Jay, influenced by these views,
went to Congress with a request that the resolution
■which insisted upon the free navigation of the Missis-
sippi should be rescinded, and he be allowed to conclude
a treaty on the basis proposed by the Spaniards. In
support of this request he urged that the navigation was
not then important, and probably would not be for
twenty-five or thirty years. A forbearance to use it was,
therefore, no great hardship. The right could be ac-
quired only by a war with Spain, in which, no doubt,
France would join her ally. For such a war the country
was not prepared. The operation of the treaty could be
limited to twenty-five years, when the United States
would be strong enough to assert its rights. In accord-
ance with Jay's request, a resolution was submitted to
Congress repealing the previous instructions, and author-
izing him to conclude a treaty waiving the question of
right of navigation for twenty years. In support of
the resolution New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
and the four New England States, voted unanimously ;
the Southern States opposing it with equal unanimity.
It failed to pass by only two votes.
This occurred in secret session ; but the fact soon be-
came publicly known, and the report of it reached the
West in the exaggerated form that has been mentioned,
creating wide-spread indignation. It served to increase
134 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
tlie general dissatisfaction already existing against the
Federal Government in consequence of the treaty of
Hopewell, by which the United States had relinquished
to the Indians a broad territory south of the French
Broad River, and authorized them to forcibly remove
some three thousand settlers from lands which had been
acquired by fair purchase from the same Indians. '^By
such meddling," it was said, *^the United States merely
aggravates the evils of our position. We have a right to
look to the General Government for protection from the
savages, but it has increased their hostility ; and now it
would inclose us with a Chinese wall — shut us out from
the markets of the world, merely to swell the already
plethoric pockets of the ruffle-shir ted gentry on the sea-
board." This was the language now heard in every hut
and every hamlet from the Watauga and Cumberland to
the remotest district in Kentucky. Public meetings
were everywhere held, strongly reprobating the proposed
treaty, and denouncing it as *^ cruel, oppressive, and
unjust." A document of the period gave voice to the
general feeling as follows : " The prohibition of the
navigation of the Mississippi has astonished the whole
Western country." To sell us, and to make us vassals to
the merciless Spaniards, is a grievance not to be
borne."
The public excitement invaded even the General
Assembly of Virginia, which promptly passed resolutions
asserting that *^the common right of navigating the
Mississippi is the bountiful gift of Nature to the United
THE SPANISH COMPLICATION. I35
States" ; and ^Hhe Confederacy, having been formed on
the broad basis of equal rights in every part thereof, and
confided to the protection and guardianship of the whole,
a sacrifice of the rights of any one part to the supposed
or real interest of another part would be a flagrant vio-
lation of Justice, and a direct contravention of the end
for which the Federal Government was instituted, and
an alarming innovation on the system of the Union."
Any such action would provoke "the just resentment
and reproaches of our Western brethren, whose essential
rights and interests would be thereby sacrificed and
sold," and it would tend "to undermine our repose, our
prosperity, and our Union itself."
Congress had failed to give any protection to the
Western country ; North Carolina was acting in direct
hostility to her border counties ; and, with all her friend-
liness, Virginia, owing to distance, was unable to respond
as promptly as the exigency often required to the reason-
able demands of Kentucky. In these circumstances there
had grown up a conviction with many leading men that
both convenience and safety required that the West
should assume an independent existence, either as a
separate State or an independent Commonwealth. That
this last was now openly avowed and discussed among
them may be inferred from some expressions in a letter
written about this time by the Attorney-General of Ken-
tucky to the President of Congress. "I am decidedly
of opinion," he writes, "that this Western country will
in a few vears act for itself, and erect an
136 ADYANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION-.
goyernment ; for, under the present system, we can not
exert our strength, neither does Congress seem disposed
to protect us." Nothing more would appear to have
been needed to lead the West to some such action than
the disclosure which the vote on the Jay resolution had
afforded of the feeling of the majority of Congress ; and
no more favorable circumstances could be conceived of
for an ambitious man, unscrupulous as to means, and
unrestrained by love of his country, to put himself at
the head of a movement to swing the West from the
Union, and erect it into an independent republic. Un-
fortunately, there was such a man among the settlers in
Kentucky, and he now addressed himself to that object
with consummate ability. To further the project, he
encouraged Spain to persist in the occlusion of the Mis-
sissippi ; and he thereby entailed upon the entire West
long-continued suffering, and upon the devoted colony
along the Cumberland ten more years of most sav-
age warfare. It therefore becomes necessary to give
some account of him and his machinations in this
history.
The influence of this man on Western affairs was so
potent that, according to one of its historians, his arrival
there constituted "an era in the history of Kentucky,"*
but it was an " era " pregnant with peril to the West.
His name was James Wilkinson, and for a month or two
he had held the rank of brevet brigadier in the army of
* Mann Butler, " History," p. 143.
THE SPANISH COMPLICATION". 137
the Eevolution. From this fact he had come to be
usually addressed as General Wilkinson. He made his
first appearance in Kentucky in February, 1784, and
establishing himself at Lexington, engaged at once in
commercial operations. Humphrey Marshall, who was
his near neighbor, and knew him intimately well, writes
of him : *^ The presence, the manners, and conversation
of this gentleman were calculated to attract attention,
excite curiosity, and produce interest. ... He had been
an officer in the regular army, was at the taking of Bur-
goyne, and lately a member of the Pennsylvania Legis-
lature. Besides these circumstances — so well adapted to
prepossess the feelings, play upon the imaginations, and
captivate the hearts of the simple and rustic Kentuckians
— Nature herself had gratuitously furnished Wilkinson
with a passport which insured his favorable reception
wherever he was seen and heard — a passport expressed
in a language which all manT^ind could read, whose in-
fluence every one felt, and which none would suspect, or
scrutinize on the first perusal. A person not tall enough
to be perfectly elegant, was compensated by its symm.e-
try, and appearance of health and strength ; a counte-
nance open, mild, capacious, and beaming with intelli-
gence ; a gait firm, manly, and facile ; manners bland,
accommodating, and popular ; an address easy, polite, and
gracious, invited approach, gave access, assured atten-
tion, cordiality, and ease. By these fair forms he con-
ciliated ; by these he captivated. The combined effect
was greatly advantageous to the general, on a first
138 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
acq^uaintance — which a further intercourse contributed
to modify."*
The distrust which is intimated in the last sentence
njight have been more generally felt had Wilkinson's
history been better known among the Kentuckians. He
was a native of the little town of Benedict, in Mary-
land, and at the age of eighteen had just completed
his studies for the medical profession when tidings
reached him of the battle of Bunker Hill. Without
delay he abandoned his home, and, proceeding to the
camp at Cambridge, Massachusetts, enlisted as a private
in the army under Washington. On the remains of a
slender patrimony he was able to indulge in a style of
living not common to private soldiers, and this, with a
plausible address and unbounded audacity, probably
accounts for the fact that he was soon admitted to the
tables of subordinate officers, and speedily contracted a
close intimacy with Captain Aaron Burr and Colonel
Benedict Arnold. In September, 1775, he obtained a
captain's commission, and joined Arnold on his ill-
starred expedition into Canada. Serving with credit
in this campaign, he was advanced to the rank of
major, and, in June, 1776, appointed to the staff of
General Gates. He soon acquired the confidence of
that officer, who in the following December made him
the bearer of an important dispatch to General Charles
Lee, then encamped near Morristown, New Jersey. Here
* " History of Kentucky," by H. Marshall, vol. i, p. 165.
THE SPANISH COMPLICATION. 139
he was the unobserved spectator of Lee's capture by a
small party of British, who suddenly surrounded his
quarters. He has graphically described this incident in
his '^ Memoirs," according to which, with a pistol in each
hand, he took up a position approachable by only one
person at a time, determined to shoot down his first as-
sailants, and to use his sword upon the remainder. His
yalor, however, was not put to the test, for, Lee having
surrendered at a second summons, the British rode away,
leaving the smaller game unmolested. In Wilkinson's
"Memoirs" he expresses the opinion that it was then
Lee's intention to anticipate Washington in breaking the
British lines between New York and the Delaware. Had
Lee done this, he might have been elevated to the chief
command — a calamity which, perhaps, the country es-
caped in consequence of his capture.
Kejoining Gates, Wilkinson was promoted to a colo-
nelcy, and appointed adjutant-general. In this capacity
he was at the battle of Bemis's Heights on September
19, 1777, and in the more important engagement of
October 7th. On the eve of the latter battle he had an
opportunity to display the duplicity and treachery which
were the distinguishing traits of his subsequent career.
Under cover of darkness, Colonel John Hardin, of Ken-
tucky, had penetrated into the British lines, and obtained
an accurate idea of their strength and position. At im-
minent risk to his life he regained the American out-
posts, and there met Wilkinson, who was making the
rounds with some boon companions. Aware of Wilkin-
14:0 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
son's relation to Gates, Hardin confided to him his dis-
coveries, and begged that he would at once make them
known to the general. This Wilkinson did, suppressing
Hardin's name, and making himself the hero of the mid-
night adventure. He also embellished his narrative with
sundry hand-to-hand encounters and hair-breadth es-
capes, which Hardin had not experienced. The result
was that, when Burgoyne had surrendered, Wilkinson's
duplicity was rewarded by his being made bearer of the
joyful tidings to Congress, with a recommendation from
Gates to that body for his appointment as a brigadier-
general.* Wilkinson was eighteen days on the way to
Philadelphia, loitering at every convenient station to
laud the greatness of Gates, and the important part he
had himself played in the events which led to the sur-
render ; so the news was a week old when he finally
delivered his dispatches.
Congress did not at first seem to appreciate the vast-
ness of his services, or to be inclined to act on Gates's
recommendation. Chafing under this neglect, Wilkin-
son wrote to Gates : ^^I have not been honored with any
mark of distinction from Congress. Indeed, should I
receive no testimony of their approbation of my conduct
I shall not be mortified. My hearty contemj^t of the
world will shield me from such pitiful sensations." The
world for which he' expressed so much contempt had
been known to him for not more than twenty years, and
* "The Impartial Review," Nashville, September 13, 1806.
THE SPANISH COMPLICATION. 141
the conduct for which he expected approbation was,
princiiDally, his fraudulent assumption of another man's
services. After some days a proposal was introduced
into Congress to present Wilkinson ^^^ a sword, where-
upon Dr. Witherspoon, a shrewd Scot, dryly remarked,
''I think ye'd better gi'e the lad a pair of spurs. ^"^ This
defeated the resolution, but Congress, some weeks subse-
quently, did appoint him a brigadier-general by brevet,
and soon afterward. Secretary of the Board of War, of
which Gates was a member.
Wilkinson was at this time deep in the Conway cabal,
which proposed to elevate Gates to the chief command of
the army ; and the discovery of this conspiracy was due
to his babbling the secret in a convivial hour to Lord
Stirling. His remarks were at once communicated to
Washington, who frankly repeated them to Gates and
Conway, by whom the disclosures were met, at first with
hesitating prevarication, and then with downright false-
hood. The result was that Wilkinson was plunged over
his depth into hot water. Adroit as he was, he could
not explain his treachery to Gates, nor convince Wash-
ington that he was not connected with the disreputable
conspiracy. He challenged both Gates and Lord Stir-
ling to duels ; but that did not remove the distrust with
which he was now generally regarded. To add to his
discomfort, forty-nine officers of the army petitioned
Congress to rescind his appointment as brigadier ; and,
to avoid that disgrace, he at once resigned his brevet
rank of general. He retained his commission as colonel^,
142 ADYANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
but was not again actively employed till toward the close
of the war, when he served for a time as clothier-general
of the army.
The war over, Wilkinson sought a fresh field for his
restless activity in Kentucky. The property he brought
with him did not exceed three or four slaves, and a few
hundred pounds in money, but on this slender capital he
at once embarked in extensive commercial operations.
" His bold and sanguine nature refused to be confined to
small adventures. His local business was the smallest
part of the large and laborious enterprises which he act-
ively supervised. Before the winter of 1786 he had well-
nigh engrossed the profitable trade in salt, and combined
it with barters for otter and beaver skins that yielded in-
creased gains. His agents were everywhere, and his un-
tiring vigilance kept pace with all their movements and
spurred their activity."*
The fact was not long in disclosing itself to Wilkin-
son that there was a speedy fortune before him if he
could secure the exclusive right to trade with New Or-
leans. He was satisfied that the Spaniards had other
views than a paltry traffic in pork, flour, and tobacco.
It was well known throughout the West that they
armed and secretly incited the Creeks and Cherokees in
their constant attacks ujDon Robertson, and the motive
for their hostility was plain to a man of Wilkinson's pen-
* " Centennial Address " of John Mason Brown, Frankfort, Ken-
tucky.
THE SPANISH COMPLIOATIOK 143
etration. He saw that they hoped to exterminate and
drive off the settlers, or, at the least, to prevent their
nearer approach to the Mississippi. This indicated their
total ignorance of the growing strength and resources of
the border people, who were ah^eady too strong to be ex-
terminated. If the Spaniards could be convinced of this,
might they not be induced to enter into commercial re-
lations with them, and even to form an offensive and de-
fensive alliance in case the trans- Alleghany region should
erect itself into an independent republic ? It was of the
growing power of the United States tha^ Spain was jeal-
ous. In that she saw danger to her American posses-
sions ; but she would have no such fear of a feeble re-
public wedged in between the Mississippi and the Alle-
ghanies. And yet, that feeble republic, guided by the
genius of Wilkinson, would before many years be strong
enough to dictate terms to the Spaniards, and, if need
were, to drive them into the Gulf of Mexico. There is
abundant evidence that these were the views of Wilkin-
son when, in 1787, he had the interview with Robertson
of which mention has been made in a previous chap-
ter.
But at the outset Wilkinson probably contemplated
only such personal relations with the Spaniards as would
give him exclusive traffic upon the Mississippi. This he
hoped to bring about by the bribery of the Spanish offi-
cials, and by impressing them with so exalted an opinion
of Western power that they would be convinced of the
utter hopelessness of staying the progress of American
144 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
emigration to the Mississippi. This was now (1786) Wil-
kinson's object, and he set about its attainment with a
shrewdness that would have been admirable had he been
actuated by any but the most sordid personal motives.
The ulterior project he might prosecute or abandon, as
circumstances should render expedient. In view of the
excited state of the Western mind, it is probable that he
anticipated no serious opposition to it from the border
people.
CHAPTER VII.
THE TREASOIS^ OF WILKINSON*.
Wilkinson made his attempt to capture the Spanish
trade by gradual and systematic approaches. He first
dispatched emissaries down the Mississippi to spread ex-
aggerated reports of the strength of the border settle-
ments, and of his own influence and importance ; and
then, when time enough had passed to allow these re-
ports to reach New Orleans, and become generally dif-
fused, he followed them up, in the autumn of 1786, by a
personal visit to Don Gayoso de Lamos, the Spanish
commandant at Natchez. Wilkinson had reason to know
that this gentleman was, in many respects, ^^a man after
his own heart." He was vain and pompous, fond of
luxury and the pleasures of the table, and also a wasteful
spendthrift, overwhelmed with debt, constantly harassed
for money, and entirely unscrupulous as to the means he
took for its acquisition. But he was easy of access, and
of a complaisant disposition ; and, as like attracts like,
Wilkinson could reasonably count on making him a
146 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
serviceable instrument in the promotion of his enter-
prise.
The reports which Wilkinson had sent before him,
represented that he was "a person of the first influence
and consequence in Kentucky and the Western country,
and that he could command at pleasure an army of ten
or fifteen thousand citizens." Gayoso received him with
all the consideration due to so potent a personage, and
speedily ^^an understanding of the most intimate char-
acter was established between them." This soon grew
into a friendship which lasted many years, and was as
sincere as any friendship can be between men totally
lacking in sincerity. Some details of this interview are
reported — among others that, in answer io Gayoso's in-
quiries, Wilkinson gave him ''an account of the re-
sources and population of Kentucky " (probably exagger-
ated), ''and assured him that the inhabitants were in a
state of the greatest discontent, bordering even upon in-
surrection ; and that they would cheerfully accept the
yoke of any foreign power which would aid them in a
separation from the Union." As he was in duty bound,
Gayoso transmitted these statements to his superior,
Don Miro, the Spanish Governor of Louisiana. This
was the result at which Wilkinson had aimed ; and he
returned to Kentucky feeling that the first step in his
great enterprise had been successfully taken. The gain
to Gayoso from this visit was "a pair of the most beau-
tiful bay geldings, that Wilkinson bought, for the ex-
press purpose, of Colonel Bannister, at Petersburg, Vir-
THE TREASON OF WILKINSON". I47
ginia, wliich were the next spring forwarded to the
Spaniard."* It was this pair of geldings that opened
the Mississippi River to American commerce.
The ferment in Kentucky continued, and was act-
ively encouraged by Wilkinson, who soon became a most
energetic declaimer against the supineness of the Gen-
eral Government, and the injustice that the East was
ready to inflict upon the West by the Jay treaty. But
he was not diverted from his great project of open-
ing a trade with the Spaniards. His was a versatile
genius. He could simultaneously pursue half a dozen
different objects, and make them all subserve and pro-
mote one another. To convey his produce past the gnns
of Natchez, he had expended a pair of thoroughbreds,
and now he decided to risk a larger sum — of his own or
some one else's money — in an attempt to open the gates
of New Orleans to his commerce. Accordingly, he
loaded a flat-boat with Kentucky produce, and set it
afloat down the Mississippi, while he himself followed
by the overland route to New Orleans.
As Wilkinson expected, Don Gayoso allowed his flat-
boat an unmolested passage under the guns of Natchez ;
but it was unceremoniously seized at New Orleans by
Don Navarro, the Spanish Intendant. Wilkinson had
not yet arrived, and notwithstanding the reports so in-
dustriously circulated by his emissaries, the Spanish gen-
* The foregoing statements and quotations are from an article in
*'The Impartial Review," of August 30, 1806.
148 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
tleman had never heard of the great American general,
nor of his fifteen thousand indomitable Kentucky rifle-
men. He was about to sell the cargo, and apply the
proceeds toward the enormous deficiency which Spain
every year discovered in the finances of the colony, when,
fortunately for Wilkinson, the transaction came to the
ears of a prominent Saerchant, who at once reported the
facts to Don Miro, the Spanish Governor. What fol-
lowed can best be told in some extracts from a report
made by this merchant — Daniel Clark — to the Hon.
Timothy Pickering, Secretary of State, a few years
later, under President Washington.
*^ About the middle of the year 1787," he says, ^'the
foundation of an intercourse with Kentucky and the
settlements on the Ohio was laid, which daily increases.
Previous to that time, all those who ventured on the
Mississippi had their property seized by the first com-
manding officer whom they met, and little or no com-
munication was kept up between the countries. . . . An
unexpected incident, however, changed the face of things,
and was productive of a new line of conduct : the arrival
of a boat belonging to General Wilkinson, loaded with
tobacco and other productions of Kentucky, was an-
nounced in town, and a guard was immediately sent on
board of it. The general's name had hindered this being
done at Natchez, as the commandant was fearful that
such a step might be displeasing to his superiors, who
might wish to show some respect to a general officer — at
any rate, the boat was proceeding to Orleans, and they
THE TREASON^ OF WILKINSON. I49
could there resolve on what measures they ought to pur-
sue, and put them in execution. The government not
much disposed to show any mark of respect or forbear-
ance toward the general's property, he not having at that
time arrived, was about proceeding in tlie usual way of
confiscation, when a merchant in Orleans" (Clark him-
self), *'who had considerable influence there, and who
was formerly acquainted with the general, represented to
the Governor that the measures taken by the intendant
would very probably give rise to disagreeable events :
that the people of Kentucky were already exasperated at
the conduct of the Spaniards in seizing on the property
of all those who navigated the Mississippi, and if this
system was persisted in, would, very probably, in spite of
Congress and the Executive of the United States, take
upon themselves to obtain the navigation of the river by
force, which they were able to do ; a measure for some
time dreaded by this government, which had no force to
resist them, if such a plan was put in execution. Hints
were likewise given that Wilkinson was a A^ery popular
man,, who could influence the whole of that country;
and probably that his sending a boat before him with a
wish that she might be seized, was but a snare laid for
the government, that he might have an opportunity at
his return to inflame the minds of the people, and hav-
ing brought them to the point he wished, induce them
to appoint him their leader, and then, like a torrent,
spread over the country and carry fire and desolation
from one end of the province to the other. Governor
150 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
Miro, unacquainted with the American government,
ignorant even of the position of Kentucky with respect
to his own province, but alarmed at the very idea of an
irruption of Kentucky men whom he feared without
knowing their strength, communicated his wishes to the
intendant, that the guard might be removed from the
boat, which was accordingly done ; and a Mr. Patterson,
who was the agent of the general, was permitted to take
charge of the property on board, and sell it free of duty.
" The general, on his arrival in New Orleans some time
after, informed of the obligation he lay under to the
merchant who had impressed the Governor with such an
idea of his importance and influence at home, waited on
him, and in concert with him formed a plan for their
future operations. In his interview with the Governor,
that he might not seem to derogate from the character
given of him by appearing concerned in so trifling a
business as a boat-load of tobacco, hams, and butter, he
gave him to understand that the property belonged to
many citizens of Kentucky, who, availing themselves of
his return to the Atlantic States by way of Orleans,
wished to make a trial of the temper of this government,
that he on his arrival might inform his owners what
steps had been pursued under his eye, that adequate
measures might be afterward taken to procure satisfac-
tion. He acknowledged with gratitude the attention
and respect manifested by the Governor toward himself
in the favor shown to his agent ; but at the same time
mentioned that he would not wish the Governor to ex-
THE TREASON OF WILKINSON 151
pose himself to the anger of the court, by refraining
from seizing on the boat and cargo (as it was but a
trifle), if such were the positive orders from court ; and
he had not a power to relax them according to circum-
stances.
" Convinced by this discourse that the general rather
wished for an opportunity of embroiling affairs, than
sought to avoid it, the Governor became more alarmed.
For two or three years before, and particularly since the
arrival of the commissioners from Gjeorgia, who had come
to Natchez to claim that country, he had been fearful of
an invasion at every annual rise of the waters, and the
news of a few boats being seen on the Ohio was enough
to alarm the whole province. He resolved in his mind
what measures he ought to pursue (consistent with the
orders he had from home not to permit the free naviga-
tion of the river), in order to keep the people of Ken-
tucky quiet ; and in his succeeding interviews with Wil-
kinson, having procured more knowledge than he had
hitherto acquired of their character, population, strength,
and dispositions, he thought he could do nothing better
than hold out a bait to Wilkinson to use his influence in
restraining the people from an invasion of this province,
till he could give advice to his court, and require further
instructions. This was the point to which the parties
wished to bring him, and being informed that in Ken-
tucky two or three crops were on hand, for which, if an
immediate vent was not found, the people would not
keep within bounds, he made Wilkinson the offer of a
152 ADVANOE-GUAED OF WESTER J^ CIVILIZATION.
permission to import on his own account to New Or-
leans, free of duty, all the productions of Kentucky,
thinking by this means to conciliate the good-will of the
people, without yielding the point of navigation : as the
commerce carried on would appear the effect of an indul-
gence to an individual, which could be withdrawn at
pleasure.
" On consultation with his friends, who well knew
what further concessions Wilkinson could extort from
the fear of the Spaniards, by the promise of his good
offices in preaching peace, harmony, and good under-
standing with this government, until arrangements were
made between Spain and America, he was advised to in-
sist that the Governor should insure him a market for
all the flour and tobacco he miglit send, as in the event of
an unfortunate shipment he would be ruined, while en-
deavoring to do a service to Louisiana. This was ac-
cepted ; flour was wanted in Orleans, and the King of
Spain had given orders to purchase more tobacco for
the supply of his manufactory at home than Louisiana at
that time produced, and which was paid for at about
nine and a half dollars j)er hundred-weight. In Ken-
tucky it cost but two, and the profits were immense.
In consequence, the general appointed his friend Daniel
Clark his agent here, and returned by way of Charles-
ton."*
* The foregoing is copied from the notes to Clark's book upon Wil-
kinson, pp. 6-9. The paper as given in Wilkinson's " Memoirs," differs
from it in some few particulars.
THE TREASO]^ OF WILKINSON. 153
Several other interviews ensued, and Wilkinson was
most hospitably entertained by Governor Miro, who be-
came every day more friendly and condescending. He
remained in New Orleans during all of the months of
June, July, and August, and until far into September,
and his relations with the Governor and with Navarro
soon became so intimate as to give rise to **sly hints and
insinuations " as to their nature and tendency. During
this period, says Mann Butler, in his *^ History of Ken-
tucky," at the Governor's request, he gave to him, for
the information of the Spanish ministry, a memorial "in
writing, respecting the political interests of Spain and
the inhabitants of the United States dwelling in the re-,
gions upon the Western waters. This he did at length,
in a document of fifteen or twenty pages, which the Gov-
ernor transmitted to Madrid, to be laid before the King
of Spain. In this document he urges the natural right
of the Western people to follow the current of the rivers
flowing through their country to the sea. He states the
extent of the country, the richness of the soil, abounding
in choice productions, proper for foreign markets, to
which they have no means of conveying them should the
Mississippi be shut against them. He sets forth the ad-
vantages which Spain might derive from allowing them
the free use of the river. He proceeds to show the rapid
increase of population in the Western country, and the
eagerness with which every individual looked forward to
the navigation of that river. He describes the general
abhorrence with which they received the intelligence
154: ADYANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
that Congress was about to sacrifice their dearest interest,
by ceding to Spain for twenty years, the navigation of
the Mississippi ; and represents it as a fact that they are
on the point of separating themselves entirely from the
Union, on that account. He addresses himself to the
Governor's fears by an ominous display of their strength,
and argues the impolicy of Spain in being so blind to her
own interest as to refuse them an amicable participation
in the navigation of the river, thereby forcing them into
violent measures. He assures the Spanish Governor that,
in case of such alternative, * Great Britain stands ready,
with expanded arms, to receive them,' and to assist their
efforts to accomplish that object, and quotes a conversa-
tion with a member of the British Parliament to that
effect. He states the facility with which the province of
Louisiana might be invaded by the united forces of the
English and the Americans, the former advancing from
Canada by the way of the Illinois Eiver, and the latter
by the way of the Ohio Eiver ; also the practicability of
proceeding from Louisiana to Mexico, in a march of
twenty days ; that in case of such invasion. Great Britain
will aim at the possession of Louisiana and New Orleans,
and leave the navigation of the river free to the Ameri-
cans. He urges forcibly the danger to the Spanish inter-
ests in North America, with Great Britain in possession
of the Mississippi ; as she was already in possession of
the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes. He concludes
with an apology for the freedom with which he had ex-
pressed his views by the Governor's particular request ;
THE TREASON OF WILKINSON. 155
but such as they are, they are from a man whose head
may err, hut whose heart can not deceive.''^
The average commercial conscience may not be very
much shocked by the tortuous diplomacy to which Wil-
kinson confessedly resorted to open the Mississippi to his
commerce ; but it is scarcely a reasonable supposition
that he remained in that pestilential town during the
three most sultry and unhealthy months of the year,
solely to write the foregoing memorial, sell a small cargo
of produce, and form a commercial connection with the
merchant, Daniel Clark. Nor can a high-born Castilian
gentleman, like Don Miro, be suspected of lavishing at-
tentions upon a mere trader in Western produce, unless
said trader had wares to sell which he deemed of more
consequence than ^Miams, butter, and tobacco." A
dense mystery overhung this whole transaction for all of
fifty years, and until the curtain was lifted from it by
the Spanish Government consenting to the examination
of Wilkinson's correspondence and Miro's dispatches.
Then it was discovered that this native-born American,
only recently in the official service of his country, and
soon to be elevated to the chief command of her armies,
had, during those unhealthy months, bargained to barter '
away the district of Kentucky, and indeed the whole
territory as far east as the Alleghanies, for a mess of
Spanish pottage. Miro's correspondence clearly reveals
the fact that Wilkinson addressed a memorial to the
Spanish Government — in addition to the one already
quoted — which has not even yet been published. Its
156 ADYANCE-GUAED OF WESTEKiN" CIVILIZATION.
character, however, may be readily gathered from some
expressions of Miro's in a dispatch to the Spanish min-
ister of date January 8, 1788. He therein alludes to
*^ Wilkinson's great project" as a crime for which he is
liable to be '-'arrested," and reminds the minister that in
Wilkinson's memorial he expresses himself as conscious
that he has put at stake his "life and honor." In the
same dispatch Miro adds : *' The delivering up of Ken-
tucky into his Majesty's hands, which is the main object
to which Wilkinson has promised to devote himself en-
tirely, would forever constitute this province a rampart
for the protection of New Spain."*
Of this opinion also was Navarro, the Intendant of
New Orleans, who had been brought into the conferences
between Miro and Wilkinson. In an official dispatch,
which about this time he addressed to the Spanish min-
ister, to be submitted to his king, he '* depicted in vivid
colors the dangers which Spain had to apprehend for her
American colonies, from the thirteen provinces which
had lately become independent, and assumed their rank
among the nations of the earth. He dwelt with peculiar
emphasis on the ambition and thirst of conquest which
his keen eye could already detect in the breast of the
* Most of these dispatches, if not all, were originally in cipher, and
are now to be found in the archives of Spain. By consent of the Span-
ish Government, copies of them have been made for the State of Louisi-
ana, which copies are now deposited in the oflSce of the Secretary of State
at Baton Rouge. The quotations herein are from various extracts printed
in Gayarre's "Spanish Domination in Louisiana."
THE TREASON OF WILKmSON". 157
new-born giant, who, as he predicted with remarkable
accuracy, would not rest satisfied until he had extended
his domains across the continent, and bathed his vigor-
ous young limbs in the placid waters of the Pacific.
And how was this dread event, so clearly foreseen, to be
prevented ? By severing the Union — dividing the At-
lantic States from the boundless West, where so much
power was already slumbering in the lap of the wilder-
ness. To effect this was not, in his opinion, very diffi-
cult, if the propitious circumstances, then existing, were
turned to advantage without loss of time, and by the use
of proper means. "Grant," he said, ^^ every sort of com-
mercial privileges to the masses of the Western region,
and shower pensions and honors on their leaders."
To this showering of '* pensions and honors on the
leaders " Miro was agreed ; but he advised his govern-
ment that commercial '' privileges should be granted to
only a few individuals having influence among them as is
suggested in Wilkinson's [secret] memorial, because, on
their seeing the advantages bestowed on these few, they
might be easily persuaded to acquire the like by becom-
ing Spanish subjects."
It is evident, from his correspondence, that Miro was
confident he was now about to perform an important
service to his country — remove from it a great danger,
and annex to it a vast territory, with a rapidly increasing
population already outnumbering that of Louisiana more
than two to one. This expectation must have given him
no ordinary gratification, for, after a large expenditure
158 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
of money and ammunition, the treaty with McGillivray
had borne no fruit to the advantage of Spain. The
Creek chief had not dared to so much as move against
Sevier, and the feeble Eobertson was even stronger than
when his extermination was first resolved upon. The
Northern Indians also had not given the expected aid
to the Spanish designs. They had, no doubt, amused
McGillivray with fair speeches ; but since 1784 they had
engaged in no considerable raid upon the Kentucky set-
tlers. Meanwhile, the Western settlements had more
than trebled in numbers, and it was idle to think of
their extermination. Some other mode must therefore
be adopted to prevent their becoming dangerous to the
Spanish possessions, and this mode was now indicated by
a man who had the ability to carry the plan into execu-
tion. All that now seemed necessary was to *^ shower
pensions and honors" upon the Western leaders. We
may smile at what we deem the infatuation of the Span-
ish Governor, and think that the Western people were
too loyal to be so readily led out of the Union ; but
the fact soon appeared that the general distress resulting
from the occlusion of the Mississippi would render it an
easy task for a few able men to accomplish that object.
The dispatches of Miro and Navarro, and the two
memorials of Wilkinson, made a deep impression at Mad-
rid, and led to the speedy adoption by the Spanish Gov-
ernment of a policy that looked to the severing of the
West from the East. This policy was persisted in for
ten years, solely because it was encouraged by the trea-
THE TREASON OF WILKINSON^. I59
sonable action of Wilkinson. On him, therefore, rests
the responsibility for the disquiet and positive suffering
it inflicted upon the entire West, and for the havoc and
bloodshed it entailed upon the devoted colony along the
Cumberland. It has been questioned '^whether Wilkin-
son went further than to deceive the Spanish authorities
with a pretended disloyal intent toward his own govern-
ment. He exaggerated," it has been said, ^Hiis own im-
portance and influence, and promised much to the Span-
iard which he could never have joerformed, and scarce
thought of performing. And he did so purposely, that
he might exact the money which his extravagance re-
quired. He kept no promise made to the Spanish in-
tendant, but regularly received the king's money."* In
other words, he was a traitor to both the Spaniards and
his own countrymen. In either view of his conduct it
was alike infamous, and attended with the same disas-
trous results.
It is no doubt true that Wilkinson had no idea or in-
tention, from the very first, of converting the West into
a Spanish province. So far he deceived Miro. But he
was scarcely back in Kentucky before he notified the
Spanish Governor that Kentucky must be made a repub-
lic, allied to Spain, but nominally independent. This
he knew would equally as well serve the Spanish pur-
pose, which was to weaken the Union. Moreover, it
would avert from Spain the jealousy of foreign powers.
* John Mason BroTvn, " Centennial Address."
160 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERIi CIVILIZATION.
In these views Miro coincided, and lie so expressed him-
self in his dispatches to his Government. This end
Wilkinson sought with every appearance of sincerity;
and it was the one that would best promote his own
interest ; for he could count upon being himself the
head of the new State, and thus at once gratifying
his two strongest passions — love of ^f elf and power. His
government once firmly established, Spain might have
found him an unruly dependant. The man was governed
solely by self-interest, and, once in possession of the
requisite power, he might have thought that his interest
would be subserved by the Spaniards evacuating New Or-
leans, and allowing him a theatre for the magnificent
Southwestern empire which, it is no great stretch of
credulity to believe, he himself suggested to Aaron Burr,
eighteen years later. But I do not propose here to either
accuse or defend General Wilkinson. It concerns my
subject, however, to record some of his words and actions,
and the result can not be avoided if from these an un-
favorable estimate should be formed of his character.
He embarked at New Orleans for Philadelphia, on his
return to Kentucky, in September, 1787, bearing with
him an official permit from Governor Miro, which al-
lowed him to introduce Western produce in his boats into
Spanish territory free of duty. With the end revealed
by his correspondence distinctly in view, he now set
about its attainment with consummate ability. He ap-
pears to have been for some time detained in Philadel-
phia, for he did not reach Kentucky until February,
THE TREASON OF WILKINSON". 161
1788 ; but, prior to his arrival there, he instructed his
business partner — a Major Dunn — to buy up produce in
every corner of Kentucky. This Dunn at once pro-
ceeded to do, everywhere proclaiming the important con-
cession which Wilkinson had obtained from the Spanish
authorities. Of this concession, it was announced, every
man could avail himself by selling his produce to Wil-
kinson, or by paying him for its freightage down the
Mississippi.
These were grateful tidings to planters who had not a
current coin in their pockets, and whose products were
rotting on the ground because they would not sell for
enough to pay the cost of harvesting. To bring about
this access to the New Orleans market, the settlers had,
time and again, memorialized Congress and the State
Legislature, and the only result they had seen was the
abortive Jay treaty. They now saw that, what the Fed-
eral Government could not do, Wilkinson had effected
by personal negotiation. Some sagacious men shook
their heads, and said that the transaction had about it an
odor of corruption — that Wilkinson had obtained his
trading concession by bribing the Spanish officials. But
the majority of planters, like other men, are not saga-
cious ; or if they are, they are seldom so scrupulous as to
inquire how the money is come by which buys their ba-
con and tobacco. It is certain that the Kentuckians did
not ask this question about Wilkinson, for he leaped at
once into almost unbounded popularity. And, as he
rose in public estimation, the General Government fell.
162 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
**"What sort of a Congress is this," men every where
asked, "which can not do what is done by a private in-
dividual ? "
This was the state of public feeling when Wilkin-
son crossed the Alleghanies, and in a chariot drawn by
four horses, and attended by a retinue of colored out-
riders, entered Lexington, Kentucky. At any other
time these unostentatious people might have been dis-
gusted with this affected display, but now they saw in it
only what was appropriate to one who had achieved a
great triumph in diplomacy. Everywhere they flocked
about him, and everywhere Wilkinson was received with
distinguished honors. The universal adulation seems to
have well-nigh turned his head, for, before he had been
in Kentucky long enough to broach his project to any
but a few intimate friends, he dispatched a pirogue in
charge of a couple of boatmen, to Miro, with this mes-
sage in cipher : "All my predictions are verifying them-
selves, and not a measure is taken on both sides of the
mountains which does not conspire to favor ours."
The "measures" to which Wilkinson alludes were
those which were being taken for the separation of Ken-
tucky from Virginia, and the admission of the district as
a State into the Union. Several conventions had been
held to consider the subject, and the last one had voted
a petition to the mother-State for a separation. To this
Virginia had now agreed, with the proviso that Con-
gress should first consent to receive Kentucky as one
of the United States. The Kentuckians had forwarded
THE TREASON OF WILKINSON. 163
a petition to this effect to Congress, and had called a
convention to meet on the 28th of the ensuing July, to
form a Constitution for the new State.
What followed can best be told in Wilkinson's lan-
guage to Miro and Navarro. With his accustomed en-
ergy he had laden a fleet of flat-boats with produce, and
on the 15th of May, 1788 — only three months after his
return to Kentucky — he had dispatched them, in charge
of Major Dunn, down the Mississippi. By this gentle-
man he forwarded a cipher dispatch to the Spanish Gov-
ernor and Intendant, a portion of which was as follows :
*^ On the first day of January of the next year, 1789,
by mutual consent, this district will cease to be subjected
to the jurisdiction of Virginia. It has been stipulated,
it is true, as a necessary condition of our independence,
that this territory be acknowledged an independent State
by Congress, and be admitted as such into the Federal
Union. But a convention has already been called to
form the Constitution of this section of the country, and
I am persuaded that no action on the part of Congress
will ever induce this people to abandon the plan which
they have adopted, although I have recent intelligence
that Congress will, beyond a doubt, recognize us a sov-
ereign State. . . .
*' The convention of which I have spoken will meet
in July. I will, in the mean time, inquire into the pre-
vailing opinions, and shall be able to ascertain the extent
of the influence of the members elected. When this is
done, after having previously come to an understanding
164: ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
•with two or three individuals capable of assisting me, I
shall disclose so much of our great scheme as may appear
opportune, according to circumstances, and I have no
doubt but that it will meet with a favorable reception ;
because, although I have been communicative with no
more than two individuals, I have sounded many, and,
wherever it has seemed expedient to me to make known
your answer to my memorial, it has caused the keen-
est satisfaction. Colonel Alexander Leatt Bullitt, and
Harry Innis, our attorney-general, are the only indi-
viduals to whom I have intrusted our views, and, in
case of any mishap befalling me before their accom-
plishment, you may, in perfect security, address your-
selves to these gentlemen, whose political designs agree
entirely with yours. Thus, as soon as the new govern-
ment shall be organized and adopted by the people, they
will proceed to elect a Governor, the members of the leg-
islative body and other officers, and I doubt not but they
will name a political agent with power to treat of the
affair in which we are engaged, and I think all this will
be done by the month of March next. In the mean
time I hope to receive your orders, which I will do my
utmost to execute. . . .
'^I do not anticipate any obstacle from Congress,
because, under the present federal compact, that body
can neither dispose of men nor money, and the new
government, should it establish itself, will have to en-
counter difficulties which will keep it weak for three
or four years, before the expiration of which I have
THE TREASON OF WILKINSON. 165
good grounds to hope that we shall have completed our
negotiations, and shall have become too strong to be
subjected by any force which may be sent against us."
A copy of this letter, forwarded by Major Dunn,
Miro dispatched to the Spanish minister at Madrid on
the 15th of June, with these observations : '^^This major
confirms all of Wilkinson's assertions, and gives it out
as certain that, next year, after the meeting of the first
assemblies in which Kentucky will act as an independ-
ent State, she will separate entirely from the Federal
Union ; he further declares that he has come to this
conclusion from having heard it expressed in various
conversations among the most distinguished citizens of
that State ; that the direction of the current of the
rivers which run in front of their dwellings, points
clearly to the power to which they ought to ally them-
selves. "
Wilkinson now addressed himself to his great task
with his accustomed energy. How he went about it,
he explains in a subsequent dispatch to Governor Miro.
In it he says : "Immediately after having sent you my
dispatch by Major Dunn, I devoted all my faculties to
our political designs, and I have never since turned
aside from the pursuit of the important object we have
in view. If subsequent events have not come up to
our expectations, still I conceive that they are such as
to inspire us with flattering hojoes of success in due
time ; and, although in the conjectural opinions which I
have presented to you and Navarro, I may in some par-
166 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
ticulars have been deceived, you will yet see that, in
the main, I expressed myself with a prophetic spirit,
and that important events have occurred to confirm
the accuracy of my sentiments.
"When Major Dunn left Kentucky, I had opened
myself only to the Attorney-General Innis and to
Colonel Bullitt, who favor our designs, and indirectly I
had sounded others, whom I also found well disposed
to adopt my ideas. But having made a more strict ex-
amination, I discovered that the proposed new Govern-
ment of the United States had inspired some with ap-
prehensions, and others with hopes — so much so, that
I saw that this circumstance would be a cause of some
opposition and delay. I also perceived that all idea
that Kentucky would subject itself to Spain must be
abandoned for the present, and that the only feasible
plan to the execution of which I had to direct my at-
tention was that of a separation from the United States,
and an alliance with Spain, on conditions which could
not yet be defined with precision. I considered that,
whatever be the time when the separation should be
brought about, this district being then no longer under
the protection of the United States, Spain might dictate
her own terms ; for which reason I embraced without
delay this last alternative.
" The question of separation from the United States,
although discussed with vehemence among the most dis-
tinguished inhabitants of this section of the country, had
never been mentioned, in a formal manner, to the people
THE TREASON OF WILKINSON. 167
at large ; but now was the time for making this impor-
tant acd interesting experiment, and it became my indis-
pensable mission to do so. I had to work on a ground
not yet prepared for the seed to be deposited in it, and I
felt that, to produce a favorable impression, I had to
proceed with reserve, and avoid with the utmost care
any demonstration which might be calculated to cause
surprise or alarm. For these motives, I gave an equivo-
cal shape to the expression of my design, speaking of it
in general terms, as being recommended by eminent poli-
ticians of the Atlantic coast, with whom I had conversed
on this affair, and thus by indirect suggestions and argu-
ments I inspired the people with my own views, without
presenting them as such, because it would have been im-
prudent in me to divulge them under the existing cir-
cumstances, and I can give you the solemn assurance,
that I found all the men belonging to the first class of
society in the district, with the exception of Colonel
Marshall, our surveyor, and Colonel Muter, one of our
judges, decidedly in favor of separation from the United
States, and of an alliance with Spain. At first, these
two men had expressed this same opinion with warmth,
but now their feelings have taken a different direction
from private motives of interest and personal pique, for
which reasons I have very little to dread from their in-
fluence ; but, at the same time, I foresaw that they would
avail themselves of the opposition made by some liter-
ary demagogues, who were under the influence of fear
and prejudice. Nevertheless, I determined to lay the
168 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
question before our convention, and I took the necessary
measures accordingly." He goes on to say that he had
been obliged to expend five thousand dollars in further-
ance of the great project, and that an additional ex-
penditure of twenty-five hundred dollars would convert
Marshall and Muter to his way of thinking ; but, unfor-
tunately, he had not the money. Miro at once recom-
mended to the Spanish minister that these two sums
should be paid to AVilkinson.
There is good evidence that some of this money was
used by Wilkinson in corrupting his associates, and it is
clear that he did not ^^ proceed with reserve" in ap-
proaching some of the leading men of Kentucky. To
at least half a dozen he must have opened his plans in all
their fullness. In this, as in all extensive conspiracies,
there was an inner and an outer ring : a central group to
whom was disclosed the whole design, and who bargained
for and received pensions and emoluments from Spain ;
and an outer circle, ignorant of the entire plot, and con-
tent with the crumbs that were to fall from the Spanish
table — namely, the free navigation of the Mississippi.
This outer circle was, no doubt, mainly composed of
honest men, who contemplated nothing more than a
commercial connection with Spain ; but they were nu-
merous enough to warrant Wilkinson's expectation that,
through their votes, he could control the approaching
convention. Consequently, he looked confidently for-
ward to that convention to erect Kentucky into an inde-
pendent Commonwealth.
THE TREASON OF WILKINSON. 169
It is singular that, in all his treasonable corre-
spondence, Wilkinson does not once make mention of
Isaac Shelby. Shelby was, at this period, by far the
most popular man in Kentucky. He had been employed
at surveying in the district as early as 1776, and he then
selected a location in the vicinity of Boonesborough,
which, when subsequently granted to him, was the first
preemption in Kentucky. The war over, and his busi-
ness as commissioner for laying out the Cumberland
lands completed, he returned to Boonesborough, and
marrying a daughter of Nathaniel Hart, the associate of
Henderson in the purchase of Kentucky from the Chero-
kees, he settled upon this tract as a planter. There he
lived for more than half of man's allotted term of life,
and there he died, full of age and of honor.
The district had been largely settled by Eevolution-
ary soldiers, and at this time, and for years afterward,
they formed the bulk of its population. They retained
their Revolutionary traditions, and still looked to their
old officers as their natural leaders. Among all these
officers, none was held in such general esteem as Shelby.
It was universally known that he had decided the battle
of Point Pleasant, which had made possible the settle-
ment of Kentucky, and that to him and John Sevier
belonged the glory of having turned the tide of the Rev-
olution at King's Mountain. But, aside from these con-
siderations, Shelby had great weight with the people be-
cause of his unswerving uprightness, his clear and solid
judgment, and his elevated patriotism, which no personal
170 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIYILIZATION.
motive had ever seduced from a single pursuit of the good
of his country. He was not a brilliant man, able, like Se-
vier, to sway a whole people by his personal magnetism.
He was more nearly Oarlyle's ideal of the man of power
— silent, reticent, and seldom speaking, except in short,
crisp sentences which expressed his exact ideas, with
never a shade of disguise or circumlocution. From early
manhood he had fought, not for any one section, but for
the whole country, and the wiiole country had, in his
mind, a future boundary as far west as the sun's setting.
In appearance, manner, and character, he was the exact
opposite of Wilkinson. Thorough patriot as he was, he
might be an important obstacle to its success should he
become acquainted with the treasonable conspiracy. The
Sevier and Shelby papers were burned during the Union
occupation of Knoxville ; but Dr. J. G. M. Ramsey, in
whose possession they were, and who was familiar with
their contents, assured me that they contained nothing
to indicate that Wilkinson had in any manner approached
Shelby. It is certain that Shelby was in ignorance of the
conspiracy till within a few weeks of its intended execution.
Thus affairs stood — the deep-scheming traitor sure of
his end, and the sleeping country ignorant of the mine
that was about to explode beneath it — when one of those
trifling incidents occurred which so often turn the course
of history. Sevier at this time, as I have elsewhere re-
lated,* was struggling at desperate odds to defend the
* " Jobu Sevier, as a Commonwealth-Builder," pp. 158-196.
THE TREASOIT OF WILKINSOK 171
settlers south of the French Broad against the combined
Creek and Cherokee nations. These settlers numbered
about three thousand, and they had located on their
lands under grants and promises of protection from
North Carolina. But the Indian title had not been ex-
tinguished, and one of Sevier's first acts as Governor of
Franklin had been to conclude a treaty with the Chero-
kees, by which they ceded these lands to the new State,
and thus gave the settlers peaceable possession. In doing
this, Sevier assumed the treaty-making power, but that
was no more than had been done by nearly every one of
the States, even when they were colonies. His action
was brought to the notice of Congress, and that body
feeling its sovereignty invaded, and jealous of its rights
— as most weak bodies are — proceeded to make with the
Cherokees the treaty of Hopewell, by which Sevier's
treaty was ignored, all lands south of the French Broad
and Holston were relinquished, and the settlers declared
to be intruders upon Cherokee territory. North Caro-
lina followed up the treaty by a proclamation ordering
the settlers to remove at once from their homes. But
for nearly three years both proclamation and treaty were
dead letters ; for John Sevier was at the head of the
border militia, and his name was a terror to the Chero-
kees.
But the State of Franklin was no sooner dissolved,
and Sevier a proscribed and outlawed man, than the ten
thousand allied Creeks and Cherokees went upon the war-
path, and in overwhelming numbers moved down upon
172 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
the feeble settlements. Sevier went at once to their res-
cue, and he was there now with only about nine hundred
men, struggling to hold his ground against not far from
ten thousand. Proscribed, outlawed, and cut off from
supplies, as he was, what could he do to either promote
or retard Wilkinson's treasonable project ? To all ap-
pearance, nothing ; and yet, the Spanish minister, Gar-
doqui — who had now taken an active hand in furthering
the plot — deemed him of sufficient consequence to be
approached with friendly overtures. He commissioned
one Dr. James White, who, though a member of the
American Congress, w^as not unwilling to soil his hands
with Spanish gold, to visit Sevier, and assure him that if
he and the Watauga people desired to ally themselves
with Spain, and would favor her interests, they should
be protected in any. form of civil and political govern-
ment that was most agreeable to them. Sevier had very
much the same feeling for the Spaniards as Robertson,
but he was never known to treat his worst enemy with
discourtesy. With his accustomed urbanity he received
this Spanish emissary, and w^ith even more than his ac-
customed frankness told him that he was in a desper-
ate strait ; that while he had not ten rounds of am-
munition to a man, he was in hourly expectation of an
overwhelming attack from the savages. He and his
comrades had made up their minds that there was noth-
ing for them but to die at their posts ; and yet, he said,
a little gunpowder would save them. H Spain would
furnish that, he would pledge his personal honor that it
THE TREASON OF WILKINSON. I73
should be paid for as soon as he had flogged the Creeks
and Cherokees.
Dr. White assured Sevier that Spain would furnish
the powder. To procure it, he had only to make appli-
cation to Don Gardoqui ; and he added that Spain was
about to spread her sheltering wings over the entire Mis-
sissippi Valley, and on James Wilkinson in Kentucky,
and John Sevier on the Watauga, she would shower her
most distinguished favors. Sevier had no exalted opin-
ion of Wilkinson, and the mention of his name, coupled
with that of Kentucky, was enough to arouse all his
remarkable powers of fascination. Neither friend nor
enemy had ever been able to withstand them, and the
Spanish envoy did not on this occasion. When White
had finished telling all that he knew — which may not
have been much — he wrapped a buffalo-robe about him,
and stretched himself upon the floor of the log station to
get a night's slumber ; and then Sevier wrote the sug-
gested letter to the Spanish minister. That being done,
he penned on the fly-leaf of a large Bible another letter —
to Shelby — recounting all the details related by White,
and stating his conviction that Wilkinson Avas engaged
in a conspiracy with the Spaniards. By this time it was
midnight, and his guest was soundly asleep. Then Se-
vier hurried forth and into an adjoining cabin, where he
roused Major Nathaniel Evans, who had left Eobertson,
and come to him, as soon as he had heard that his old
commander was going upon his present desperate expedi-
tion. Recounting to Evans the contents of the letter,
174: ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
and reminding him that Shelby would have only six
weeks in which to act before the assembling of the con-
vention, Sevier bade him ride as if the fate of the West
hung on his horse's heels ! Thus did that proscribed and
outlawed man, who had lost all that most men value, and
was at that very moment standing with his back to the
wall, sternly waiting death at the hands of uncounted
enemies, stretch out his arm across two hundred miles of
trackless wilderness, to not only save Kentucky, but
to shape for long centuries the destinies of the West.
Is it not hard to find in all history a more magnificent
spectacle ? *
The rest is soon told. The convention met on the
28th of July, 1788. When it was organized, its president
rose, and stated that he had the day before received a
message from the Secretary of Congress, which he would
proceed to read to the convention. The substance of
the message was, that Congress was not prepared to re-
ceive the new State into the Union until the Federal
Constitution had been generally ratified by the individ-
ual States. The announcement was received with ill-
concealed exultation by the adherents of Wilkinson.
This refusal, they thought, would exhaust the patience
of the people, and precipitate an immediate revolution.
What followed can not be better told than in the words
of Wilkinson to Miro. '^ From this proceeding of Con-
gress," he says, ^^it resulted that the convention was of
* See Appendix A.
THE TREASON OF WILKINSON. I75
opinion that our proposed independence and separation
from Virginia not being ratified, its mission and powers
were at an end, and we found ourselves in the alterna-
tive either of proceeding to declare our independence,
or of waiting, according to the recommendation of Con-
gress. This was the state of affairs, when the Hon.
Caleb Wallace, one of our supreme judges, the Attor-
ney-General Innis, and Benjamin Sebastian " (another
supreme judge, and with the others then and subse-
quently a pensioner of Spain), *' proposed a prompt
separation from the American Union, and advocated
with intrepidity the necessity of the measure. The arti-
fice of Congress was exposed, its proceedings reprobated,
the consequences of depending on a body whose interests
were opposed to ours were depicted in the most vivid
colors, and the strongest motives were set forth to justify
the separation. The arguments were unanswerable, and
no opposition was manifested in the course of the de-
bates. Nevertheless, sir, when the question was finally
taken, fear and folly prevailed against reason and judg-
ment. It was thought safer and more convenient to ad-
here to the recommendation of Congress, and, in conse-
quence, it was decided that the people be advised to elect
a new convention, which should meet in the month of
November." All which merely exhibits the fact that
Shelby had his men well in hand, and that his tactics
were to let Wilkinson's friends do all the talking, while
his should do all the voting.
The traitors met even a worse defeat in the Novem-
176 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
ber convention, for meanwhile Shelby and his associ-
ates, Judge Muter and Thomas Marshall — father to
the great Chief-Justice, and the intimate friend of
Washington — had more thoroughly aroused the dele-
gates to the danger of the situation. But here again I
will allow Wilkinson to be his own historian. He writes
to Miro : ^' The last convention was legally elected, and
met at Danville in the month of November, in conform-
ity with the decree above mentioned. Marshall and Mu-
ter had, in the mean time, been scattering distrust and
apprehensions calculated to do injury to our cause. It
is evident, however, that it has acquired considerable
force ; but, in order to elicit an unequivocal proof of the
dispositions of that assembly, I submitted to its examina-
tion my original memorial and the joint answer of your-
self and Navarro. . . . Some of our friends urged me to
avail myself of this opportunity to revive the great ques-
tion, but I thought that it was more judicious to indulge
those who, for the moment, wish only that a new appli-
cation be made in relation to the independence and sepa-
ration of Kentucky from Virginia, and that a memorial
be addressed to Congress on the necessity of obtaining
the free use of the navigation of the Mississippi. I as-
sented to these last propositions the more readily, that
it was unanimously resolved that should any of them be
rejected, then the people would be invited to adopt all
the measures necessary to secure for themselves a sepa-
rate government from that of the United States, because
it would have become evident that Congress had neither
THE TREASON OF WILKINSON. 177
the will nor the power to satisfy their hopes. I deter-
mined, therefore, to wait for the effects which will result
from the disappointment of those hopes, and on which
I rely to unite the country into one opinion. This is the
basis on which the great question now rests, and the con-
vention has adjourned to the next month. . . . Thus, sir,
if we review the policy favored by the inhabitants of
Kentucky, we see that the most intelligent and the
wealthiest relish our designs. . . .
'^ There are three conditions which are requisite to
perpetuate the connection of this section of the country
with the Atlantic States. The first and the most im-
portant is the navigation of the Mississippi ; the second,
which is of equal consequence, is the admission of this
district into the Union as an independent State, and on
the same footing with the others ; the third, and the
last, which is of less moment, is the exemption from
taxes until the befalling of the two events previously
mentioned. Now, sir, as two of these conditions are in-
admissible, either by the Atlantic States or by Spain,
can any one hesitate to declare what will be the conse-
quence ? With due deference I say — no ; because, as it
is not rational to suppose the voluntary casting away of
property, that another may profit by it, so it is not to be
presumed that the Eastern States, which at present have
the balance of power in their favor in the American Gov-
ernment, will consent to strip themselves of this advan-
tage, and increase the weight of the Southern States,
by acknowledging the independence of this district,
178 ADVANCE-GUAKD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
and admitting it to be a member of the Federal
Union. . . .
'*The same effect will be produced bj the suspension
of the navigation of the Mississippi, which lies entirely in
the power of Spain, and which must reduce this section
of the country to misery and ruin ; and as it has been
stipulated that the operations of the Federal Government
shall be uniform, the new Congress will have to lay taxes,
without exception whatever, over the whole country sub-
mitted to its jurisdiction. The people here not having
the means of paying those taxes, will resist them, and the
authority of the new government will be set at naught,
which will produce a civil war, and result in the separa-
tion of the West from the East.
"This event is written in the book of destiny. But
if, to produce it, we trust solely to the natural effect of
political measures, we shall experience some delay. It is
in the power of Spain, however, to precipitate its accom-
plishment by a judicious co-operation ; and permit me
here to illustrate the observations which I presented
some time ago to yourself and Navarro, in my answer to
your inquries as to the nature of that co-operation.
" As long as the connection between the Americans
of the East and of the West on this side of the Appala-
chian Mountains shall produce reciprocal benefits, and an
equal security to their common interests and happiness,
the Union will maintain itself on a solid foundation, and
will resist any effort to dissolve it ; but as soon as it shall
be ascertained that one section of the confederacy derives
THE TREASON OF WILKINSON. 1^9
from the Union more advantages than the other, and
that the blessings of a good government — such as peace
and protection can not be equally distributed, then har-
mony will cease, and jealousies arise, producing discord
and disunion. In order to aid the favorable dispositions
of Providence, to foment the suspicions and feelings of
distrust already existing here, and inflame the animosity
between the Eastern and Western States, Spain must re-
sort to every artifice and other means which may be in
her power.
^'I have stated that the navigation of the Mississippi,
and its admission as an independent State, and a member
of the Union, are rights clamied by the people of this
part of the country, and constituting one of the principal
conditions under which its connection with the Atlan-
tic States is to continue. Hence it follows that every
manifestation of the power of Spain, and of the debility
of the United States, every evidence of the resolution of
the former to retain exclusively for herself the right of
navigation on the Mississippi, and every proof of the
incapacity of the latter, will facilitate our views. Every
circumstance also that will tend to impede our admission
as an independent State, will loosen the attachment of
many individuals, increase the discontent of the people,
and favor the execution of our plan.
*' While this affair is pending, Spain ought to con-
sider the navigation of the Mississippi as one of the most
precious jewels of her crown ; for, whatever power shall
command that navigation, will control all the country
9
180 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
which is watered by that river, and by those streams
which fall into it. This control will be as effective and
complete as that of the key upon the lock, or that of the
citadel over the exterior works which it commands.
The grant of this boon ought to be looked upon as the
price of our attachment and gratitude, and I beg leave to
be permitted to repeat that there must be known no in-
stance of its being extended to any other than those who
understand and promote the interests of Spain in this
part of the country, I entreat you, sir, to believe that
this question of navigation is the main one on which de-
pends the union of the West and East ; and that, if Con-
gress can obtain the free use of the Mississippi, and
if Spain should cede it without condition, it would
strengthen the Union, and would deprive Spain of all its
influence on this district.
'^The sanguine spirit of an American impels him to
construe in his favor everything that is left doubtful, and
therefore Spain can not act with too absolute precision
on this important question. You must not forget, sir,
that such was my first impression, in which I have been
daily confirmed by subsequent observations and experi-
ence. The generality of our population are constantly
discussing and fostering these ideas, and as long as the
hopes they have conceived on this subject are kept
up, it is a circumstance which will militate in favor
of the Union, and will delay the effect of my opera-
tions."
The foregoing remarks, which were promptly for-
THE TREASON OF WILKINSON. 181
warded to the Spanish ministry, encouraged Spain in
her obstinate refusal to open the Mississippi, and they
prompted the long hostilities with which she incited
the Creeks and Cherokees to harass the Cumberland
settlers.
CHAPTER VIII.
A DECEITFUL PEACE.
The correspondence between Robertson and McGilli-
vray was of no practical benefit to the beleaguered colony
along the Cumberland. From it, however, resulted the
fact that, no sooner did Spain conceive the idea that she
could make either vassals or allies of the border set-
tlers, than the New Orleans authorities made friendly
overtures to Robertson ; assuring him of peace with the
Indians, and the free navigation of the Mississippi, if
he would look to Spain for protection. As early as
April 20, 1783, and on several subsequent occasions,
Miro had held out to him strong inducements to set-
tle on the west of the Mississippi ; offering his colony
a vast territory, exemption from taxation, the free ex-
ercise of religion, and every material aid to worldly
prosperity. These offers Robertson had courteously de-
clined, but he had taken advantage of them to open a
friendly correspondence with the Spanish Governor.
The treaty with McGillivray, which looked to his exter-
A DECEITFUL PEACE. 183
mination, had not then been made ; but Robertson was
aware of the potent influence which the Spaniards ex-
ercised over the savages. He therefore aimed to
conciliate them, and in his efforts to that end he
went so far as to flatter Miro's vanity by giving his
name to the Cumberland region, when it was erected
into a political " district " by the North Carolina Legis-
lature. The compliment seems to have secured Miro's
personal good- will to Robertson, but. it did not induce
him to obstruct the hostile policy of his government.
The settlement was weak ; it needed a few years of quiet
to give it strength enough to defy both Spaniards and
Indians. Hence, Robertson sought peace ; but he got
only war from his treacherous neighbors. Now, he met
these friendly overtures with an absolute refusal to have
any dealings with Spain.
The formal reply of Robertson to the overtures of
Miro I have not been able to discover ; but there can
be no question of its character. To all his friends and
neighbors he expressed unqualified opposition to any
kind of alliance with the Spaniards ; and this he did
when a strong party among the settlers, eager for com-
mercial facilities, and longing for a respite from con-
tinual conflict, urged upon him some arrangement by
which the colony might secure rest, and freedom from
midnight massacre. Many of the leading men in the
district expressed such sentiments, and one of them —
Brigadier-General Daniel Smith — went so far as to open
a private correspondence with the Spanish Governor on
184 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
the subject. In one of his dispatches to Wilkinson,
Miro says that he had received a letter from General
Smith, dated March 4, 1789, which informed him that
*^ the inhabitants of Cumberland, or Miro, would, in Sep-
tember, send delegates to North Carolina, in order to
solicit from the Legislature of that State an act of separa-
tion, and that, as soon as this should be obtained, other
delegates would be sent from Cumberland to New Or-
leans, with the object of placing that territory under the
domination of his Majesty."*
If McGillivray may be believed — and it is as well to
doubt his statements, unless they are strongly corrob-
orated — even Messrs. Hoggatt and Ewing, the messen-
gers and confidential friends of Robertson, shared
Smith's sentiments, and went so far as to express them
to the Creek chieftain in the interview which has been
mentioned, and this before Eobertson had addressed
McGillivray in the equivocal language that is quoted on
a preceding page. Directly after the visit of those gen-
tlemen, McGillivray wrote to Miro as follows : **I must
inform you that, since the departure of Garion with my
last letters, two delegates from the District of Cumber-
land have arrived, with proposals of peace to this nation.
They represented to me that they were reduced to ex-
tremities by the incursions of our warriors, and that, to
obtain peace and our friendship, they were disposed to
submit to whatever conditions we might choose to im-
* *' Spanish Domination in Louisiana," p. 262.
A DECEITFUL PEACE. 185
pose ; and, presuming that it would have a powerful in-
fluence with me, and would secure them my fayor, they
added that they would throw themselves into the arms
of his Majesty as subjects, and that Cumberland and
Kentucky are determined to free themselves from their
dependence on Congress, because that body can not pro-
tect either their persons or their property, or favor their
commerce, and they therefore believe that they owe no
obedience to a power which is incapable of benefiting
them."*
And shall we censure the colonists if, hemmed in by
daily danger from countless enemies, and altogether neg-
lected both by North Carolina and the General Govern-
ment, they did indulge in these sentiments ? Can we
fail to sympathize with their unparalleled privations and
sufferings, and to wonder at the heroic fortitude with
which they had borne them during eight long and dread-
ful years ? But privation, suffering, personal peril, the
slaughter of his children and his best loved friends, and
* Gayarre's "Spanish Domination in Louisiana," pp. 213, 214. It is
observable, in McGillivray's letters to Robertson, that he alludes solely to
Mr. Hoggatt, and makes no reference whatever to his companion, Mr.
Ewing. I hence conclude that these sentiments, if spoken at all, were
not expressed by the latter gentleman. He was a man of prominence,
and decidedly outspoken; but not one of his many recorded utterances
accords with those attributed to the envoys by McGillivray. It is al-
together probable that the wily Creek chief exaggerated the friendly re-
marks of Robertson's messengers, in order to enhance his own impor-
tance with the Spanish Governor.
186 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
daily life in a furnace of fire, did not for a moment shako
the iron resolution of Eobertson. To ward off the torch
and the tomahawk from his friends, he was willing to
*' palter in a double sense" with a perfidious enemy;
but his real feelings are expressed in the following words
which he daily addressed to his neighbors, and wrote to
Sevier at this period. '^In Kentucky as well as here,"
he says, *' people suffer greatly from the power which
the Spaniards possess over the navigation of the Missis-
sippi, as well as by the influence they exert over the In-
dians. We all have had abundant reason to judge and
pronounce the exercise of such power and influence to
be ^evil, only evil, and that continually.' They have
tempted us to abandon our settlements ; failing to ac-
complish by their specious offers their sinister designs,
they have enraged and backed our savage neighbors to
a war of extermination upon us. We despise them for
their dujilicity, we scorn their allurements, and we abhor
and curse their savage crueFties. We can never trust
them, and never prosper in any alliance or business with
them. Heaven will avenge our wrongs some day. And
even should we ourselves be cut off in the struggle, let us
hold fast our faith, our innocence, our integrity, our
honor, our government, and our possessions. The de-
vices of the wicked shall not always prosper ; Heaven
will avenge us yet ! "
Eemarkable words to have been spoken by a man
in the situation of Eobertson ! Had they been uttered
where histories are written, they would be to-day
A DECEITFUL PEACE. 187
among the annals of this nation, and this man's name
a household word in every corner of our country.
But his words were spoken, and his deeds were done,
amid the silence of a far-away forest ; and so it is
left to a distant time to do appropriate honor to this
true moral hero, this grand leader of Western ciyil-
ization.
The war upon Robertson continued ; but the year
1789 is spoken of as one of comparative peace along the
Cumberland. Only thirty lives were taken by the Indians,
and a thousand horses stolen, ninety-seven of which be-
longed to Robertson. His life, however, came once more
near being sacrificed. He had gone one morning to a
field, where some of his men were at work, about half a
mile from his dwelling. As was customary, a sentinel
was stationed on the lookout, and about noon he gave
warning of some movements in a neighboring canebrake.
While the attention of Robertson was being called to the
circumstance, a volley was fired by the Indians, a ball
striking him in the foot, passing through the bone, and
inflicting a wound which made him a cripple for long
afterward. The Indians were a party of thirty, but they
fled as soon as they had delivered their fire ; and Robert-
son ordered immediate pursuit by some volunteers who
hastily came together. The savages gave the whites
a long chase, but were at last come up with, and, in a
sudden attack, were routed, with the loss of one killed
and five or six wounded, together with '^ sixteen guns,
nineteen shot-pouches, and all their baggage, con-
188 ADYAl^CE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
sisting of blankets, moccasins, leggins, skins, and other
articles."
This insignificant skirmish is mentioned, merely be-
cause it afforded his first military experience to a young
man of about twenty-two, who subsequently attained a
singular eminence in American history. lie had in the
previous year been appointed district attorney of the
Cumberland District, and on the 12th of January, 1789,
was admitted to practice at the bar of Nashville. Dur-
ing that year he appeared as counsel in forty-two of the
one hundred and ninety-two cases before the court, and
in the succeeding year in two hundred and twenty-eight
out of three hundred and ninety-seven cases. On the
early records is the following entry :
^* Wednesday, October 6, 1790 : Court met according
to adjournment. Andrew Jackson, Esq., proved a bill of
sale from Hugh McGary to Gasper Mansker for a negro
man, which was 0. K." The initials were Jackson's
abbreviation for '' Oil Korrect,^^ and an orthography
equally as original is observable in all his subsequent
literary productions. But if Jackson could not spell,
he could fight, and in this skirmish he is reported to
have been ^^bold, dashing, fearless, and mad upon his
enemies."
The young attorney had brought to Nashville intelli-
gence that the requisite two thirds of the States had rati-
fied the new Federal Constitution. The old Confederacy
had been compared by these people to a barrel with thir^ —
teen staves, but without a hoop to bind the staves to-
A DECEITFUL PEACE. 189
gether, and hence liable to fall apart at the first jar or
collision. Now the rejoicing was great that a cooper
had been found to securely hoop the barrel ; and when
the Fourth of July came round, expression was given to
the universal joy over this new birth of a nation. Pow-
der was burned, and toasts were drunk ; and in the last
toast their own fire-girdled community received appro-
priate recognition. It was alluded to as ''The Sala-
mander, which lives in the fire"; ''The solitary Phoe-
nix, that revives from its ashes"; and "The Bed of
Pansy or Heart's-ease, trodden upon, 3^et expanding its
leaves, and perfuming the atmosphere" — which toasts
are good evidence of the presence of some one in the
colony of higher literary attainments than Andrew
Jackson.
Soon after the tidings brought by Jackson, came
news to the Cumberland of the organization of the new
government, and the inauguration of George Washing-
ton as first President of the United States. North
Carolina had not yet ratified the Constitution, nor ceded
her Western territory to the Union ; but the colonists
looked for these events m the near future, when they
would be under the immediate government of the ven-
erated Washington. Nothing could have given them
greater satisfaction, for in the prospect they saw peace,
security, an open Mississippi, and the removal of every
obstacle to their progress in numbers and prosperity.
Nowhere in the country was there more absolute confi-
dence in the great man who had carried the colonies
190 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
tlirougli the Revolution than beyond the Alleghanies.
Several of the leading colonists were his personal friends.
Thomas Marshall was his constant correspondent ; John
Sevier had held a commission as captain in his corps,
under royal rule in Virginia, aad had given his name to
the Watauga District before Washington held a national
command, or was known to the general public outside of
the Old Dominion. Therefore, the rejoicing was great
when these anticipations were realized by North Carolina
again joining the Union, and soon afterward — on the
25th of February, 1790 — ceding to the United States all
her territory west of the Alleghanies.
The first acts of Washington served to increase the
universal confidence that was felt in his wisdom and
judgment. He appointed, as Governor of the new Terri-
tory, William Blount, of North Carolina — who had com-
mended himself to the Western settlers by a strenuous
opposition in the old Congress to the treaty of Hopewell ;
and he gave to John Sevier the rank of general in the
United States Army, and military command of Washing-
ton District ; and a like rank, and command of the Cum-
berland District, to James Robertson. Only a few days
subsequent came tidings that the General Government
had concluded a treaty with McGillivray, by which
the machinations of Spain would be thwarted, and
a permanent peace secured with the powerful Creek
nation.
Before the organization of the new government, Con-
gress had appointed commissioners to treat with the
A DECEITFUL PEACE. 191
Creeks, but the negotiations had come to nothing. The
whole Western frontier was in a disturbed condition ; and
Washington was no sooner in office, than he directed his
attention to securing peace with all the Northern and
Southern Indians. He sent messengers with friendly
overtures to McGillivray, but they were coldly received.
Not discouraged by this rebuff, he then dispatched
other messengers, inviting the Creek chief to New York,
offering to defray the expense of his journey, and to
recognize any just claim he might make for the de-
struction or confiscation of his property during the
Eevolution. McGillivray lent a kindly ear to these
overtures, for he saw in them an opportunity to
gratify his strong passion for display, and a possible
chance to cajole money from the United States Treas-
ury.
He set out for the seat of government, accompanied
by twenty-eight of his principal warriors — all of them
painted and plumed, and arrayed in the highest style of
Creek half-nakedness, and he himself bedecked with all
the trappings of barbaric royalty. At Philadelphia, and
all along the route, the delegation met the most flatter-
ing attentions ; and, at New York, McGillivray was re-
ceived as if he had been the sovereign of one of the
"nations of the earth." He was given elegant accom-
modations and liberal entertainment. The Tammany
Society — then but recently organized — turned out to
greet him and his warriors. With their Grand Sachem
at their head, they appeared with their savage parapher-
192 ADYAN-OE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
nalia of blanket and breech-cloth, hatchet and war-clubs,
horse-tail plumes and rooster-feathers, moccasins and
leggins, and tinkling ornaments, and all of them paint-
ed as if to go upon the war-path. Thus arrayed, they
expected to make a profound impression on the un-
traveled sons of the forest ; but the simple savages met
all the display with a stolid indifference, or at the most
a guttural ''Ugh!" which with them expresses almost
anything except astonishment. The truth is, that the
North American Indian has about as hearty a contempt
for sham as Thomas Carlyle himself.
But, amid all this adulation and empty display,
McGillivray did not forget the business he had gone
upon ; and, in the negotiations that ensued, he showed
quite as much diplomatic skill as the American ofiRcials.
The treaty, which was soon concluded, secured to the
Creeks valuable presents, a liberal annuity, and the resto-
ration of an extensive territory which they had previously
ceded to the whites ; and to McGillivray, by a private ar-
ticle, one hundred thousand dollars as compensation for
his confiscated property, and the rank and pay of briga-
dier-general in the Army of the United States. These
extraordinary concessions were made to the Creeks, be-
cause of a single clause contained in the treaty, by which
they acknowledged themselves to be " under the protec-
tion of the United States, and of no other nation whatso-
ever." This, it was thought, would effectually thwart
the machinations of Spain, and secure permanent peace
to the border settlements.
A DECEITFUL PEACE. 193
And had permanent peace been the result, it would
not have been too dearly purchased by this treaty. But
no such result was within the scope of McGillivray's in-
tentions. His sincerity may be judged of from the fact
that at this very time he was an officer in both the
British and Spanish armies ! When about to set out for
New York, he had written to the Spanish Governor at
New Orleans that, '* although he should conclude a
treaty of peace with the Federal Government, yet he
would ever remain faithful to his old friends the Span-
iards ; and he asked from the court of Madrid many
favors, with an annual stipend of fifteen thousand dol-
lars to carry on hostilities against the projected estab-
lishment of the South Carolina Company, if not against
the United States."* At the same time he expressed
the same sentiments in letters to his intimate friend
William Pan ton, a Spanish merchant at Pensacola.
Alluding to the results he expected from the proposed
peace negotiations, he said to him, "Experience has
proved that such matters are only to be attained by
the longest fire, and point of sword ^ particularly with
Americans."
Soon after the execution of the Creek treaty at New
York, a similar one was concluded with the Cherokees at
Knoxville, by which that tribe, in a like manner, ac-
knowledged itself to be "under the protection of the
United States, and of no other nation whatsoever." In
* Gayarr^'s " Spanish Domination," p. 300.
194: ADVANCE-GUARD OF AVESTERN CIVILIZATION".
friendship with the Choctaws and Chickasaws, and at
peace now with the Creeks and Cherokees, the Cumber-
land colony could reasonably look forward to an unbro
ken progress in prosperity and population. These ex-
pectations would doubtless have been at once realized
but for the bad faith of McGillivray, and the treason of
Wilkinson, which encouraged the continued hostility of
the Spaniards.
And yet into this furnace of fire men ventured, and
they suryived there, and increased in numbers, in de-
fiance of both Indians and Spaniards. Nothing bet-
ter illustrates the mania for Western emigration,
which set in directly after the Revolution, than the
fact that the flame-girdled settlements along the Cum-
berland doubled in numbers between the years 1784
and 1790. In 1784 the population did not exceed
3,500 — in 1790, by actual count, it was 7,042 — one
thousand of whom were expert riflemen. At this
time, also, the settlements covered a larger area than
ever before in their history. In a letter to the Sec-
retary of War, written about this period, Governor
Blount describes the country as follows : ^^ The settle-
ments extend up and down the Cumberland Eiver,
from east to west, about eighty-five miles, and the
extreme width from north to south does not exceed
twenty-five miles, and its general width does not ex-
ceed half that distance ; and not only the country
surrounding the extreme frontier, but the interior
part (which is to be found only by comparison with
A DECEITFUL PEACE. 195
the more exposed part), is covered generally with
thick and high cane, and a heavy growth of large
timber, and, where tliere happens to be no cane, with
thick underwood, which afford the Indians an oppor-
tunity of lying days and weeks in any and every part
of the district in wait near the houses, and of doing
injuries to the inhabitants, when they themselves are
so hid or secured that they have no apprehensions
of injuries being done in return ; and they escape
from pursuit, even though it is immediate. This dis-
trict has an extreme frontier of at least two hundred
miles."
The people still dwelt either within or in the im-
mediate vicinity of fortified stations ; but these had mul-
tiplied greatly, and now numbered not less than thirty-
five, nearly all of them stronger and better armed, than
those erected by the first settlers. At no previous time
had the colony been so well prepared to defend itself ;
nevertheless, every member warmly welcomed the com-
ing peace, and cordially assented to the policy of the
General Government, which was conciliation and for-
bearance toward the Indians, coupled with such uniform
kindness as should '*wean and win" them from alliance
and friendship with the Spaniards. "The policy," said
Sevier, "will not be successful. Your kindness the In-
dian will mistake for weakness. He can be controlled
only by his fears. Only when he thinks you more pow-
erful than he is, will he be your friend." All civilized
intercourse with the North American savage bears wit-
196 ADYANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN OIYILIZATION.
ness to the truth of these conclusions ; but for years the
General Government pursued an opposite policy, and,
even when a hostile Creek or Cherokee was on every by-
path, it forbade his being pursued beyond the boundary
of the white settlements.
CHAPTEK IX.
A STORM O^ THE CUMBERLAND.
By the recent treaties the Creeks and Cherokees had
acknowledged the supremacy of the United States, and
agreed to look to them for protection, and to "no other
nation whatsoever." This was as it should be, for these
Indians occupied United States territory. In holding
treaty relations with them, Spain had committed a
breach of international law, which had been submitted
to only because the Federal Government lacked the
power to uphold its rights. It now sought to gain by
diplomacy what it could not compel by force, and to
wean the Indians from the Spanish alliance by a persist-
ent course of conciliation and kindness. Evidently, the
success of this policy would depend upon the good faith
of McGillivray, and his ability to impress upon his peo-
ple a due respect for treaty obligations. What fidelity
might be expected from the Creek chief, may be inferred
from his known crafty and treacherous character, and
his intense hatred of the Americans ; what sacredness
the majority of his people would attach to a treaty, may
198 ADVAlSrOE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
be gathered from the remark of one of them to Sevier.
*' Powder and lead, stroud, and Kaskaskia, me know,"
he said, ^^ but paper me don't know."
Only fear of punishment, or constant donations, could
restrain the savages from continual acts of hostility to-
ward the whites ; and no\7 that the Government liad
adopted the latter policy, it would have as competitor
the Spaniards, whose largesses had exceeded its own ten-
fold,* and who, moreover — not having a west-going emi-
gration to provide for — had never asked of these nations
the cession of an acre of territory. In this buying of the
Indians the United States could not hope to outbid the
Spaniards. Sevier was therefore right — the peace policy
of the Government would be a failure. Fear of Sevier
might restrain McGillivray from raids upon the Watauga
and French Broad settlers, but no such fear would oper-
ate in favor of the feeble settlements along the Cumber-
land. Peace, therefore, to the heroic Robertson was now,
as before, dependent upon the will of the Spaniards, and
their action would doubtless be governed by the advices
they should continue to receive from Wilkinson.
I have stated that in the convention of ]N"ovember
1788, secession in Kentucky met its Waterloo. But it
clearly appears from his lengthy dispatch to Miro,
* In a dispatch to the Spanish ministry, dated February 24, 1794, the
Baron de Carondeiet states the yearly expenditure, in presents and pen-
sions to the Indians, to be fifty-five thousand dollars — nearly the entire
revenue of Louisiana.
A STORM ON THE CUMBERLAND. I99
quoted on a preceding page, that of this fact Wilkinson
was not yet conscious. In this he resembled a species of
reptile that is said to survive, and exhibit vital power —
closing its rapacious jaws upon its victim with an iron
grip — long after its head has been severed from its body.
So, though his treasonable conspiracy had lost its vitality,
Wilkinson was still potent for evil. He could continue to
encourage Spain in her now hopeless dream of severing
the trans-Alleghany region from the Union, and thus
strengthen her resolve to close the Mississippi, and
prolong her hostile influence upon the Southwestern
Indians. This doubtless he would do, whether he
thought the end of Spain could be accomplished or not,
in order to retain the annual pension of two thousand
dollars which Miro's official dispatch of May 22, 1790,
shows to have been awarded him by the Spanish Govern-
ment. In this same dispatch Miro recommends that a
like pension be granted to Judge Sebastian, '^ because,"
he says, *^he will be able to enlighten me on the conduct
of Wilkinson, and on what we have to expect from the
plans of the said brigadier-general." That is, a ^' thief
was set to catch a thief," a spy to watch another spy ;
and such infamous proceedings these Spaniards styled
diplomacy !
Owing to its effect upon the policy of Spain, the trea-
son of Wilkinson exerted for years a baleful influence
upon the colony along the Cumberland ; but it is unne-
cessary to go further into its details in this narrative. It
need only be said that he succeeded, by means of Spanish
200 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
gold and Spanish promises, in corrupting some of the
most prominent men in Kentucky. The movements of
the conspirators, as they from time to time disclosed
themselves, were duly reported by Thomas Marshall to
Washington ; and early in 1790, the President ventured
upon the hazardous step of giving office to all the leaders
except Wilkinson, in hopes to thereby detach them from
the conspiracy. At last Wilkinson himself applied for
an appointment in the army. This fact he records as
follows: "I pursued," he writes, *^the trade in which
I was engaged until the year 1791, when, discouraged by
disappointment and misfortunes, the effect of my igno-
rance of commerce, I resumed the sword of my country
in December of the same year."*
He omits to say that his petition for reinstatement in
the army was granted solely on the recommendation of
Thomas Marshall. When censured for thus aiding a
man he knew to be a traitor, Marshall justified himself
by saying that he considered Wilkinson *' well qualified
for the commission he had solicited and obtained ; that
while he remained unemployed by Government, he con-
sidered him dangerous to the public quiet of Kentucky,
perhaps to her safety ; that if his commission did not se-
cure his fidelity, it would at least place him under con-
trol in the midst of faithful officers, whose vigilance would
render him harmless, if it did not make him honest." f
* Wilkinson's "Memoirs of My Own Times," vol. ii, p 114.
f H. Marshall's "History of Kentucky," vol. i, p. 391.
A STORM ON THE CUMBERLAND. 201
At the suggestion of Washington, General Wayne
kept a close eye upon Wilkinson ; but all his vigilance
did not ^^ render him harmless," nor '^make him hon-
est." With his new oath of allegiance fresh upon his
lips, he continued a treasonable correspondence with the
Spanish officials, and there is positive proof that down to
the year 1800 he was in receipt of a Spanish pension.
His intrigues kept Kentucky in a dangerous ferment till
1792, when it was admitted as a State, and Shelby was
elected its first Governor. And even subsequent to these
events, and during the entire four years of Shelby's ad-
ministration, it required the unswerving loyalty of the
men who had rallied around him in 1788, and all his
own indomitable will and wisdom, to hold Kentucky
firmly to her moorings in the Union. So potent may be
a little poison infused into the veins of the body politic,
and so harmful the influence which one man, destitute
of principle and patriotism, may exert upon a loyal and
intelligent community.
From such a man as Wilkinson, it is a relief to turn
to one like Robertson. He has passed through the fire,
and come out gold ; but a fiercer fire is yet before him.
From this, too, he will come out doubly refined, and from
the midst of it will look serenely abroad, and say again
to his comrades : ^* We may be cut off in the struggle,
but let us hold fast our faith, our innocence, our integ-
rity, our honor, and our government. The devices of the
wicked shall not always prosper. Heaven will avenge us
yet."
202 ADVANCE-GUAED OF WESTERN^ CIVILIZATION.
For longer than Troy withstood the Greeks had this
handful of backwoodsmen held their ground against two
savage nations, backed by a powerful European mon-
archy ; but, directly following the treaty with McGilli-
vray, there came a lull in the fiery hail-storm that had
raged along the Cumberland. At the first dying away
of the tempest, the settlers emerged from their log for-
tresses to again plow their fields, plant their corn, and
engage in the ordinary employments of civilization.
'New colonists, too, soon began to crowd the two roads
which were now open from the older settlements. Large
numbers would assemble at the eastern termini of these
roads, and there go into camp to await the coming of the
guard which, at stated periods, was dispatched to escort
them to the Cumberland. Being themselves well armed,
the emigrants would, under this guard of fifty practiced
woodsmen, traverse the three hundred miles of wilder-
ness with no fear of Indian aggression. And arrived at
their destination they would be sure of meeting a cordial
welcome, for every new-comer added to the strength and
security of the community. Every door was open to the
new settler ; and his location being decided on, all the
neighborhood set at once to work to build his dwelling.
This, even if it happened to be a stockade, would be in
readiness, fully furnished, in the course of four or five
days ; so many and so skillful would be the hands en-
gaged in its erection. The furniture would not be of the
first order of elegance, but it would probably comprise
about all the domestic appliances that are essential to hu-
A STORM ON THE CUMBERLAND. 203
man existence. The dwelling furnished, and the family
moved into it, there would come the '' house-warming,"
when all the neighbors would again come together ; but
now for a "joyful time," at an old-fashioned merry-mak-
ing. James Gamble, the noted fiddler, would be among
them, and he would no sooner draw his bow across the
strings, and strike up " Hie-Bettie-Martin," than a dozen
couples would spring upon the puncheon floor, and reel
would follow reel, and jig succeed to jig, intermingled
with '^^square-sets," "contra-dances," and "three and
four handed," till the stars went out, and the sun arose,
and scored another day upon the calender. And "fast
and furious " the merriment might flow, even though a
hundred savages were prowling in the adjacent forest.
And the savages were there again, in every one of the
settlements ; but not now on evil deeds intent, with
tomahawk, and scalping-knife, and short-barreled Span-
ish rifle. Those implements they had hung up in their
wigwams for use on some future occasion. Now they
had come for "trade" — for stroud, and beads, and other
trinkets; but most of all for "bald-face," "old-rye,"
"tangle-foot," and " knock-'em-stiff " — which terms, in
backwoods commerce, stand for that compound of strych-
nine, juniper-berries, and alcohol, which in highly civil-
ized communities goes by the name of whisky. Many
serpents had come into the Indian country, and many of
the braves had been bitten by them, and nothing will
cure a serpent-bite but a strong dose of the ''bald-face"
medicine. One of these Indians with a large jug upon
10
204 ADYAXCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATIOX.
liis shoulder, applied to ''King Boyd/' at the sign of the
Bed Heifer — the distillery already mentioned. ''How
much do you want?'' asked the distiller. **Jug — you
fill him — young warrior — snake bite him — die soon —
bald-face cure him/*' was the reply. "But two gallons is
too much — it will kill him." '* Xo, no," was the an-
swer. "Snake very big — bite very bad — young warrior
sure die." And he staggered away, to experience a worse
bite than that of the rattlesnake. But even the most
badly bitten of the savages created no disorder in the
settlements. The rule of Eobertson was strict that none
of his visitors should imbibe fire-water except when miles
away from a white man's dwelling. So, peaceable rela-
tions were not disturbed by the subtle fiend that robs
both white man and red of his reason.
It really seemed that a day of peace, and rest, and
genuine prosperity had at last dawned upon the colony.
The few of the earlier settlers who had escaped slaughter
thought the worst had passed, and encouraged the new-
comers to believe they would not have to endure the hor-
rors and cruelties of savage warfare. But Eobertson
advised all not to be too adventurous. The Indian, he
said, was not to be trusted. He had no natural love for
the white man ; and behind him were the Spaniards, who
were crafty, malignant, and treacherous.
When the autumn came, news arrived that Washing-
ton had reopened negotiations with Spain, with every
prospect of bringing them to a favorable conclusion ; also
that Congress had passed an act for the defense of the
A STORM OS THE CUMBERLAND. 205
Western frontier, and that a body of troops was already
on its way to the Cumberland. These reports served to
increase the general confidence in the administration of
Washington, who, it was universally believed, would
know how to deal with the wily Spaniards. And to all,
not in the secrets of the Spanish Cabinet, there did ap-
pear good ground for the opinion that a speedy end
would come to the harassing complications in regard to
the navigation of the Mississippi. War seemed about to
break out between Spain and Great Britain, and it was
expected that one of the first movements of the British
would be the invasion of Louisiana by passing troops
from Canada through United States territory. This
could not be done without the consent of the American
Government, and Washington deemed the occasion op-
portune for demanding of Spain the relinquishment of
her claim to the exclusive navigation of the Mississippi.
He accordingly instructed Mr. Carmichael, the charge
d'affaires at Madrid, to press the demand upon the Sj^an-
ish Cabinet with pertinacious earnestness. This Car-
michael did, representing that *^the navigation was of
such absolute necessity to the United States, that they
must, sooner or later, acquire it, either through separate
action and by the exertion of their own individual power,
or in conjunction with Great Britain. This was the de-
cree of ProTidence, written on the very map of the Con-
tinent of America, and therefore it could not be resisted
by human agency, however obstinate and powerful it
might be. Was it not the part of wisdon to anticipate
206 ADYANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN OIYILIZATIOK
an irresistible event, and make the most of it, by gently
and peacefully facilitating its accomplishment, which
otherwise would inevitably be brought about by vio-
lence?"
But the overtures of Washington made no impression
on the Spanish Cabinet. The decree of Providence,
which Carmichael affirmed to be written on the Ameri-
can map, they were not able to decipher — it probably not
being in the Spanish language — but they had a design of
their own, and they believed the aforesaid map could be
adjusted in accordance with it. At the head of this
Cabinet was now Manuel Godoy, a young man with
neither national spirit nor statesmanlike quality, who
had been elevated to his high position by Charles IV, for
no better reason than because he was the especial favorite
of his queen. Godoy saw that he had merely to pocket
the insult which Great Britain had put upon Spain in
regard to the settlement at Nootka Sound, to avoid a war
with that power ; and, hence, he need not bargain with
Washington to prevent the passage of British troops
down the Mississippi. Besides, he fully believed in Wil-
kinson's assurance to Miro that the Western country
could be erected into an allied power, which would be a
rampart to the Spanish possessions. In this view he was
confirmed by the opinion of Don Diego Gardoqui, who
had returned to Spain, and was now high in Godoy's
confidence. As appears from a subsequent dispatch
from Mr. Carmichael to Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of
State, Don Gardoqui reported that he had witnessed.
A STORM ON THE CUMBERLAND. 207
while minister in this country, nothing but dissensions,
divisions, and jealousies, among both the American
States and people ; that he had conversed with many
citizens of the Atlantic States who desired to see the
navigation of the Mississippi prohibited, and our limits
narrowed, in order that all Western productions might
be brought through the seaboard States, and our popula-
tion be more concentrated. Also, he had met citizens of
the Western country who treated their adhesion to the
rest of the Union as visionary ; and he bad arrived at
the conclusion that the American people did not desire
this navigation, at least not so generally desire it as to
make any united eftort to obtain it. And further, it was
his firm conviction that the Western people, whenever
they should acquire force, would separate from the
United States.
This was ^^the decree of Providence" as read by the
Spaniards ; but, inasmuch as Providence might indefi-
nitely postpone its execution, and meanwhile the Ken-
tuckians might become so restive under a blockaded com-
merce as to thwart the aforesaid decree by descending
upon New Orleans with rifle and gunpowder, the Span-
ish Cabinet decided to accelerate the providential designs
by a slight modification of their policy. To cement their
alliance with the Southern Indians they would increase
their largesses of stroud, beads, and ^*^Kaskasky," and
give McGillivray the rank and pay of a Spanish major-
general, also an annual pension of two thousand dollars,
and, in addition, as many guns, and as much ammu-
208 ADYANOE-GUARD OF WESTERN" OIYILIZATION".
nition as he might ask for ; thereby altogether out-
bidding the United States in the recent treaties. To
quiet the impatience of the Western people, the Span-
iards would admit their produce down the Mississippi,
and into Spanish ports, on the payment of a mere
fifteen per cent duty ; providing always that none of
their productions, neither Yankee clocks, pork-barrels,
nor tobacco or soap boxes, should have upon them the
figure of the goddess of liberty ; * the said goddess being
suspected of having no very exalted opinion of hereditary
monarchy, when represented by such kings as Charles
IV and such ministers as Manuel Godoy. This trading
permission, it is evident, would completely frustrate, if
nothing else did, all of Wilkinson's plans for severing
the West from the Union. This important considera-
tion appears to have escaped the notice of the sagacious
Godoy, until it was brought to his attention by the Span-
ish Governor of Louisiana, f
McGillivray accepted the Spanish appointment and
pension, and thus was relieved from being any longer in
the position of the ass between two bundles of hay. So
long as he held the same rank of brigadier in both the
Spanish and the American army, there was nothing be-
yond mere personal feeling to incline him to serve one
any better than the other. He held a divided allegiance ;
but now he was freed from the perplexing dilemma, and
* Gayarre's " Spanish Domination," p. 309.
+ Ibid., p. 285.
A STORM ON THE CUMBERLAND. 209
in a manner to satisfy his conscience, his feelings, and his
pocket. However, he would make no open profession of
faith until he could conclude an alliance with the Chero-
kees, and also with the Shawnees — the powerful tribe
which had recently helped to inflict a crushing defeat
upon General Saint Clair. Meanwhile, he would con-
tinue to hold the rank, and draw the pay, of an Ameri-
can brigadier ; and would let his braves descend upon
Kobertson by the way of the Ohickamauga towns, for
thereby all their acts would be attributed to that nation
of cut-throats.
The foregoing facts explain how it came to pass that
in the spring of 1792 a more severe storm broke upon the
Cumberland than any which had yet been experienced
by the devoted colony. With a full knowledge of this
atrocious violation of good faith, and having furnished
the means for its commission, Spain remonstrated with
the United States for entering into the recent treaty with
McGillivray, on the ground that the Creek nation, occu-
pying American soil, was by prior treaties taken under
Spanish protection. To this remonstrance Jefferson re-
plied : "Are we to understand that, if we arm to repel
the attacks of the Creeks on ourselves, it will disturb our
peace with Spain ? That if we will not let them butcher
us, Spain will consider it a cause of war ? We love and
we value peace ; we abhor the follies of war, and we are
not untried in its disasters and calamities. . . . We con-
fide in our strength, without boasting of it ; we respect
that of others without fearing it."
210 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
Soon after Eobertson received the favorable tidings in
regard to the Spanish negotiations, there arrived at Nash-
ville the Government troops that had been detailed to aid
in the protection of the Cumberland district. They
were a body of one hundred and ninety cavalry and in-
fantry, and under their convoy came a numerous train of
wagons and pack-horses bearing arms and merchandise
for the friendly Chickasaws. The tribe had been much
exposed to incursions from Indians hostile to the whites,
and annoyed by visits from Spanish emissaries who had
sought to win them over to their designs, but it had re-
mained faithful to its pledges to Robertson, and now the
Government was bent on rewarding its long fidelity.
Piomingo being duly apprised of this, a large delegation
of Chickasaws came to Nashville, and were hospitably
entertained by the inhabitants. The goods were speedily
unboxed and distributed among the delighted Indians.
They consisted of *^one thousand five hundred blankets ;
one hundred pieces of blue strouds, calico, linsey ; blue,
red, and yellow binding ; fifty suits of clothes and fifty
hats, for the chiefs ; pieces of scarlet cloth for leggins,
etc., and five hundred scalping-knives." A rifle was
given to each chief, and "fifty good rifle-guns to the
mountain-leader, Piomingo." The new-comers among
the settlers were charmed with the simple ways and un-
affected friendliness of the Chickasaws, and they rashly
concluded that it would be an easy as well as a very
pleasant thing for white and red people to "dwell to-
gether in unity."
A STORM ON THE CUMBERLAND. 211
None of the Cherokees had been invited to this gather-
ing, but some were there, professing to be the ** white
man's friends." Nevertheless, the old settlers did not
like their appearance, and even the settlers' dogs re-
garded them with suspicion, keeping continually at their
heels, and watching their every movement. One of the
loudest in friendly profession, but for whom Eobertson
felt the strongest distrust, was a Chickamauga chief
named Cutleotoy, the *' head-man" of a small town
named Tuscagee, on the Tennessee, opposite the present
site of Chattanooga. He was known to be an inveterate
enemy of the whites, and one of the most bloodthirsty
among the Chickamauga bandits ; but now, he said, he
had buried the hatchet, was to be the white man's friend,
and to no white man so friendly as to the good chief of
the pale-faces along the Cumberland. Soon after he
went away, some horses were missing from the outlying
settlements ; and not long subsequently word came to
Eobertson that Cutleotoy, on his return to Chickamauga,
reported that the pale-faced chief had said to him :
**Much blood has been spilled in our settlements ; and
now, take notice, if any more is shed, I will come and
sweep your towns clean with Indian blood ! " From
which Cutleotoy concluded that it would be wise for the
Cherokees to take the initiative, and descend with fire
and tomahawk upon the Cumberland.
About the same time a Captain Craig, whom the Gov-
ernor had dispatched on a mission to the Chickamaugas,
returned to Knoxville reporting that while he was in the
212 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
Indian towns a body of warriors came in with scalps and
some prisoners, whereupon a war-dance was held, with
strong expressions of hostility to the whites ; also that
McGillivray was again attempting to form a coalition of
all the tribes against the Americans ; and that the Shaw-
nees had joined the coalition, and sent messengers to the
Cherokees warning them that they should regard all In-
dians as enemies who did not aid in a war against the
United States. Captain Craig further reported that a
party of eighty Creeks, who expected to be largely re-en-
forced, had crossed the Tennessee, while he was at Chick-
amauga, to make a raid upon the Cumberland.
These reports caused serious alarm among the settlers,
and those most familiar with frontier life regarded them
as sure precursors of a hostile invasion from the savages.
It was not long before accounts came in of murders and
depredations committed in the vicinity of some of the
remote stations. No less than thirteen were killed in
the course of a few weeks, among them an entire family
in the neighborhood of the present town of Gallatin, ex-
cept one little fellow of about six years, who escaped by
climbing up the wide chimney, and there secreting him-
self till the horrid tragedy was over. In his hiding-place
he heard the dying moans of his father, his mother, and
his little brother and sisters ; and then, at the end of
several hours, when all was still, he crept down and out
into the dark night, and made his way through the
lonely forest to the nearest station, two miles distant.
The tale of this little child, thus in one hour orphaned
A STORM ON THE CUMBERLAND. 213
and cast alone ujDon the world, sent a thrill of horror
through all the settlements. Women wept, and clutched
their children closer to their bosoms ; and strong men
grasped their rifles, and with deep oaths denounced ven-
geance upon the accursed Chickamaugas. The murders
had been committed by a party of about two hundred ;
doubtless a re-enforcement of the eighty Creeks who had
been reported upon the war-path ; but, as McGillivray
had expected, the atrocities were attributed to the bandit
tribe which had its home in the ^^five lower towns" along
the Tennessee.
Another atrocity which occurred at this time served
to still more inflame the popular feeling. From every
quarter the settlers were hastening to offer their services
to Robertson, and among the others were three young
men who had their home on the Eed River, near the
present site of Clarksville. Their father was Valentine
Sevier, that younger brother of John Sevier who, on
the eve of the battle of Point Pleasant, going out with
Robertson into the forest before the break of day, to
shoot game for the breakfast of his company, discovered
the advancing savages, and gave the alarm which saved
the American army from destruction. Under his more
distinguished brother he had fought at King's Mountain,
and in nearly all of his numerous campaigns against the
Indians, attaining, before the close of the Revolution, to
the well-earned rank of colonel. He was still a hale man
of only forty-five, alert, vigorous, and erect as an Indian ;
but he had a family of five sons and several daughters
214 ADYANCE-GUAED OF WESTEEN CIVILIZATION.
growing up about him, and to settle them well in life he
had emigrated to the Cumberland, and built a stockade
on the very outskirts of the colony, about fifty miles
from Nashville. Three of his sons were above sixteen ;
and no sooner did the alarm reach the neighborhood
than these young men, Robert, William, and Valentine,
applied to their parents for leave to join the force that
was gathering to resist the savages. The father did not
refuse, and the mother said, *'Go, my sons," and then
she '^ parted from them with a smile and not a tear,
sending messages to friends at the upper stations."
Accompanied by a young man named John Price, and
two or three others, the young Seviers set out in a canoe
to row up the river to Nashville. They had reached the
upper end of one of those long convolutions of the Cum-
berland where the traveler, after rowing twelve or fifteen
miles, comes round again to about his point of starting,
when they were fired upon by a large body of savages,
who, having observed them when they were lower down,
had crossed the narrow isthmus between the upper and
lower ends of the bend, and secreted themselves in the
bushes along the margin of the river. The young men
fought desperately, but what could they do against, per-
haps, a hundred Indian rifles ? The low bulwarks of the
canoe afforded no protection, and in a very few moments
the three young Seviers were killed, and two of their
companions desperately wounded. Only Price was left
unhurt, to shoot the canoe down the stream, and out of
rifle-range from the savages. What became of the
A STORM ON THE CUMBERLAND. 215
wounded is not stated ; but the canoe was soon aban-
doned, and, floating down the river, was intercepted by
the Indians who plundered it, and inhumanly scalped
and mangled its insensible occupants. After wandering
for a couple of days in the woods and canebrakes, Price
came to Sevier's station and delivered his heavy news to
the bereaved parents.* It fell upon them like a thunder-
bolt. It was the direst calamity that had ever befallen
any branch of the family. Even at King's Mountain,
only one of them had been offered up — Robert Sevier,
the uncle of these young men. But wonderful was the
stuff these pioneers were made of ! This father, thus
deprived at one blow of his chief supports, determined
to stand his ground, and went deliberately about the
strengthening of his defenses. It was only when he
wrote to his brother that his grief broke out in one
simple sentence. *^Send me John" (the general's son)
he said to him, ^^to come and stay with me, for I have
now no other sons, but small ones." The stricken
mother carried that sorrow ever in her heart, and did
not cast it off, till she went to join her boys in a
higher life, fifty-two years later, at the great age of a
hundred.
This man was not Nolichucky Jack, the beloved of all
* This incident is related somewhat differently in Haywood's " His-
tory " ; I have followed the account given in his " Life and Times of James
Robertson," by A. W. Putnam, who married into the Sevier family, and
must, therefore, be presumed to have known the correct tradition.
216 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
the people, but he was the brother of his blood, and there
was something in the very name of Sevier to stir the
pulses of the border. As men listened to the tale, they
loaded their rifles and hurried away to Nashville, each
one bearing some fresh story of Indian atrocity. One
told of the family of Jason Thompson, near Bledsoe's
Station, awaking at dead of night only to meet the toma-
hawk of the savage — the father, mother, and all their
children, except one well-grown daughter, who was
spared to be a slave, or even worse, among the Chicka-
maugas. Another saw as he came past Brown's Station,
on the southern road, only eight miles below Nashville,
the bodies of four little children who had been killed
and scalped in open day, and thrown in a heap together
near the highway. Another told of a remarkably similar
atrocity, occurring on the same day, only a few miles
from Brown's near a spring at Johnson's Station — four
little brothers and sisters "all scalped and laid upon
one another ; a heap of children, living and dead." One
little boy managed to roll himself off the ghastly pile,
but a more badly wounded little girl was unable to move
from underneath her dead brother and sister. She re-
covered, and lived for twenty years, that horrid experi-
ence ever in her memory. A cherry-tree was planted
on the spot, and it stands there to-day, a living monu-
ment to those slaughtered innocents.
Then came tidings that Dunham's Station, only
eight miles southwest from Nashville, and less than four
from Robertson's dwelling, had been sacked and burned,
A STORM ON THE CUMBERLAND. 217
and all within it massacred ; and that Colonel Kilpatrick,
when on the trail of the marauders, had been waylaid,
scalped, mangled, and beheaded. Among those who
heard these tales of blood was a man named Radcliff,
from the neighborhood of Gallatin, who had come to
Nashville only the day before, to volunteer in defense
of the settlements. As he stood there listening with
blanched cheek and a heart wrung with pity for the
anguish of his neighbors, there came to him one who
said that, only twelve hours after his leaving home, his
own house had been broken into, and his young wife and
three babes slaughtered, and that, when the messenger
left, they were still lying on the hearth-stone of his dwell-
ing, weltering in their blood.
Other tales like these I could tell, but need I relate
them ? Were these not enough to fire every soul in all
the settlements with a firm resolve to exterminate the
savages ? They had this effect ; and all, young men and
old, clamored now to be led at once against the Chicka-
maugas. The tall cane still stood thick over all the set-
tlements, affording a secure retreat for the Indians.
Broken into small parties as they were, they could not
be hunted from these hiding-places. The only effectual
warfare upon them was in their own lairs along the Ten-
nessee and Chickamauga. Of this Robertson did not
need to be informed, and he sympathized deeply with the
feeling of his neighbors ; but his hands were tied. The
orders of the Government were strict that he should act
solely on the defensive, and under no circumstances in-
218 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION
vade the Indian country so long as negotiations were
pending with the Spaniards. Of a like character were
the written instructions of the Governor to the body of
United States troops which had been sent for the pro-
tection of the settlements. ''No pursuit," he wrote, "is
to be continued beyond the ridge dividing the waters of
Cumberland and Duck Elvers. Patrols and reconnoitring
parties to be kept out from the stations, in search of,
and to prevent any further depredations by, the Indians ;
and in case any Indians should be found lurking or
skulking about to the northward of the ridge aforesaid,
in the woods, off any path, or fleeing, to be considered
and treated as enemies, save only Chickasaws and Choc-
taws, women and children." These instructions might
have been effective if carried out by a force about twenty
times that of the colony, for in that case the savages
would not have ventured to cross the prescribed bound-
ary.
Robertson made the best dispositions for defense that
were possible in the circumstances. Every man in the
settlements was enrolled under efl&cient officers, and, the
weaker stations being abandoned, a garrison was placed
in every one of the stronger ones. A force of five hun-
dred was held in reserve, exempt from special duty, but
subject to ''a moment's call for any emergency." To
Captain Rains was given a separate command with which
to range the woods and canebrakes, and come upon the
savages in their lurking-places. This troop of mounted
men was constantly in motion, and many a Creek and
A STOPwM ON THE CUMBERLAND. 219
Cherokee was sent by its unerring rifles to the *^ happy
hunting-grounds " ; but still the Indians were on every
by-path and hidden away in every canebrake, and the
number of murders did not diminish. There were prob-
ably several thousand savages in and around the settle-
ments, and thus the numbers killed made no impression
on the hostilities. Every day brought its tale of blood,
and soon there was no security except behind the walls
of the stations. Passing from one station to another
was never ventured upon unless in considerable num-
bers. In reality the whole country was in a state of
siege.
Robertson enjoined upon all extreme caution ; but he
seems to have, now and then, disregarded his own injunc-
tion, for it is recorded that one day, late in May, he vent-
ured out on horseback to a spring about half a mile
from his station, attended only by his oldest son, Jona-
than. A party of Indians had secreted themselves in the
near-by woods and canebrakes, and suddenly they fired
their rifles, wounding Jonathan in the hip, and the gen-
eral in the arm which held his rifle. His horse rearing
at the same moment, Eobertson lost his grasp upon the
weapon, and was himself thrown to the ground, while
the frightened animal galloped away. At that instant
the Indians rushed out upon him from their ambush.
His destruction seemed inevitable ; but, seeing his dan-
ger, Jonathan, wounded as he was, sprang from his
horse, and leveled at the two foremost of the savages.
They fell at his fire ; this brought the rest to a halt, and
220 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN" CIVILIZATION.
enabled both father and son to get away in safety. The
ball passed through Kobertson's arm from the wrist to
the elbow, shattering the bone, and leaving an open
wound, which rendered the limb useless for years after-
ward.
This narrow escape of their leader startled every soul
in the settlements. All recognized the fact that Robert-
son's fall would be the destruction of the colony, and
knowing well that only an attack upon their own wig-
wams would drive away the savages, they clamored again
to be led against the Chickamaugas. But again Rob-
ertson refused. He chafed at his instructions, told his
neighbors that he would gladly lead them into the In-
dian countr}^, but the orders he had were imperative, and
the first duty of a citizen was to obey his Government.
They could not know how much any rash action of
theirs might embarrass Washington in his negotiations
with the Spaniards.
In these circumstances some fiery spirits, who could
not see why veneration for Washington, or consideration
for the Spaniards, should require them to be shot down
before their own doorways, determined, in defiance of all
orders whatever, to invade the Indian country. Gather-
ing together to the number of about two hundred, under
Captain John Edmeston — one of that band of heroic
brothers who had fought so gloriously at Long Island
•Elats, and King's Mountain — they rashly resolved to go
npon the desperate expedition. Robertson was confined
to his house by his wound, but, hearing of the move-
A STORM ON THE CUMBERLAND. 221
ment, he sent for the leaders. The result of the inter-
view was the abandonment of the expedition. It is re-
markable the control that Eobertson had over these
border people. It could have arisen from nothing
but their confidence in his ability to lead, and in his
unselfish devotion to the real welfare of the com-
munity.
The bloody work went on. Till the cold weather
came, and drove the Indians back to their wigwams,
death was everywhere in all the settlements. Though
many of the savages fell, their numbers seemed to in-
crease, and in the autumn Robertson discovered that the
attacking force had been joined by the Shawnees. At
midnight on the 30th of September, Buchanan's Station,
only four miles south of Nashville, was attacked by a
party of about seven hundred, composed partly of
warriors of that tribe, and partly of Creeks and
Cherokees.
In this fort the families of some twenty- five of the
settlers had taken refuge, but it was manned at the time
by only fifteen riflemen, and its four block- houses seemed
poorly able to resist so overwhelming a force of assailants.
But among its defenders were the scout Castleman, and
others of equal skill and bravery. The first alarm was
given by the frightened cattle, which rushed wildly past
the fort on the approach of the savages. The night was
very dark, and, not to waste their powder, the garrison
withheld their fire till the Indians were within ten paces
of the buildings. Then a simultaneous discharge burst
222 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
from tlie fort, aud was replied to by a heavy and con-
stant fire, which the savages kept up for an hour, never
falling back to a greater distance, though one unbroken
sheet of flame streamed from the port-holes and mowed
them down by dozens.
The Indians had supposed the fort weakly defended,
but were soon convinced that it was crowded with rifle-
men. Every second minute a hat would appear at a
port-hole as if to fire, and an Indian would lodge a bullet
in its crown, but in another minute another hat would
appear at the same port-hole, and still the constant fire
of the fort would go on without a moment's flagging.
This constant fire, and showing of hats, was subsequently
explained. More than thirty women were in the fort,
and a still larger number of children. There were also
three or four rifles to each one of the garrison. These
the women loaded and handed with great rapidity up to
the men, who also were re-enforced by Mrs. Buchanan,
and several other women, who fired from the port-
holes like the male defenders. The ^^show of hats" —
which, from this circumstance, has become a national
phrase — was made by the children displaying all the
head-gear in the fort at the port-holes not manned by
the garrison.
On several occasions the Indians attempted to set fire
to the lower logs of the station, but every savage that
ventured upon the rash act met a bullet from one of the
bastions. At last a young brave, more bold than the
rest, climbed to one of the roofs with a lighted torch in
A STORM ON THE CUMBERLAND. 223
his hand, to fire a block-house. A well-directed shot
brought him instantly to the ground underneath one of
the port-holes. As he lay there, mortally wounded, and
his life blood fast flowing away, he applied his still burn-
ing brand to one of the lower logs, and, with his hard-
returning breath, tried to fan it into a blaze to io-nite
the building. Suddenly his head fell back, the torch
dropped from his hand, and was extinguished in a pool
of his own blood, but with his latest breath he urged
on his followers. He was a young brave of the ^'Eun-
ning Water" town of the Chickamaugas, named Chia-
chatt-alla.
Inspired by the desperate courage of this young brave,
a score of savages now rushed forward with lighted brands
to fire the fort ; but every one was shot down before he
had ignited the lower logs of the building. Then the
savage fire grew fiercer, and it became certain death for
one of the garrison to appear for an instant at any of the
port-holes, the fire being mainly directed at those open-
ings. From a space of the circumference of a foot, in
the roof above the port-hole in the over-jutting, whence
had proceeded the shots that killed the savages who had
attempted to approach the walls, thirty Indian bullets
were on the following day extracted.
Thus the conflict continued for an hour, when the soli-
tary swivel at the Nashville fort shouted through the
woods that rescue was coming. The Indians heard it,
and knew that it meant that Robertson and his minute-
men would be upon them by daybreak. Suddenly their
2-24: ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIYILIZATION".
fire slackened, and they drew off from tbe fort, bearing
away, as was their custom, their dead and wounded, ex-
cept such as lay dangerously near to the walls of the sta-
tion. As they passed out of rifle-range. Captain Eains
and five of his men rapidly approached the fort on horse-
back. He had heard the firing at his station two miles
away, and waiting for no re-enforcements, had hastened
to the rescue with only the few who were with him at
the moment. Soon others came in from Nashville and
the near-by stations, and then the garrison ventured out,
and examined the ground around the buildings. Every-
where among the trodden bushes were trails showing
where the dead had been dragged away, and scattered
here and there were numerous pools of blood, where
numbers had fallen, for, packed together as they were,
the Indians had been a broad mark for the settlers' rifles.
The slaughter had been terrible. Numbers of the
wounded died on the retreat, and were buried in the
forest, where their graves were subsequently discovered
by the white joeople.
The leader of the attacking force, a Shawnee chief,
was killed by the first fire of the garrison, as was also the
*' White-Man Killer," a brother of the noted Dragging-
Canoe, formerly head chief of the Chickamaugas. Other
prominent chiefs of the Creeks and Cherokees fell dur-
ing the action, and John "Watts, the principal chief of
the *^ lower towns," and the ablest man now among the
Cherokees, was so desperately wounded that he besought
his warriors to end his sufferings by decapitation. Not
A STOPvM ON" THE CUMBERLAND. 225
one among the garrison was so mnch as wounded. And
this successful defense against so overwhelming a force,
was made by fifteen men and thirty women, battling be-
hind weak walls for their own lives, and those of their
children. Is it not true that we need to look no further
than our own annals to find examples of the most ex-
alted heroism ?
Among the first of those who came to the helj^ of the
besieged garrison was a young man of nineteen, of slender
build, and in appearance a mere stripling. His name
was Joseph Brown, and he had been a captive among the
Chickamaugas. While, with the others, he was examining
the ground around the fort, he came upon the body of
the young brave who had been shot from the roof of the
block-house. He turned the dead face up to the light,
and, he says : ^'^ I at once recognized my old chum, Ohatt.
There he lay dead, pierced with balls — shot down into
his body as he was blowing the coals to set fire to the
fort." Of this young man I shall have to say more, for
it was through him that Eobertson was at last enabled to
subdue the savage Chickamaugas, and bring peace to the
beleaguered colony along the Cumberland. In reading
the history of these people, one is forcibly struck with
the fact that the weak are sometimes chosen to confound
the strong, and that on what seem slight and accidental
events often hang results of vital moment and far-reach-
ing consequences.
In a very few hours one hundred and eighty men had
gathered together at the fort, and with them Robertson
226 ADYANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
at once set out in pursuit of the retreating savages. But
the Indians had several hours the start, and had crossed
the prescribed boundary before they could be overtaken.
Thus was shown the futility of the orders of the Govern-
ment. They could not have been better framed if they
had been intended to erect the settlers into a target, and
to afford absolute protection to the savages.
CHAPTER X.
CAPTIVITY AMOKG THE CHICKAMAUGAS.
The captivity of Joseph Brown among the Chicka-
maugas led so directly to the subjugation of that fierce
and lawless banditti, that it forms an essential part of
this history. The tribe was composed of the very worst
elements — red and white — which then existed in the
Southwestern country. Their towns extended for thirty
miles along both banks of the Tennessee, from aboye
Lookout Mountain to below Nick-a-jack Cave, and the
tribe numbered at this time not far from two thousand
warriors — the more lawless of the Creeks and Cherokees,
re-enforced by white criminals escaped from justice, and
Tory desperadoes who had been driven from the border
settlements during and after tlie Revolution. Murder
was their pastime ; plunder their principal means of
subsistence.*
Some of the first settlers of Nashville came into col-
lision with them, when, under John Donelson, they took
* A fuller account of these savages is given in " The Rear-Guard of
the Revolution," pp. 150-154.
11
228 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIYILIZATIOK
their perilous way down the Tennessee to that remote
outpost of civilization. It was abreast of the Chicka-
mauga towns that they lost nearly thirty of their num-
ber. Time and again Sevier had invaded their strong-
holds, burned their towns, destroyed their crops, and
driven the bravest of their warriors like frightened deer
to the mountains ; but, hiding there in inaccessible re-
treats, they would abide in absolute security till the
storm was over, and then would emerge again to the
daylight, rebuild their birch-bark cabins, and resume
their barbarous warfare upon the white settlers.
For eighteen years they were the terror of the entire
border. Sevier was well-nigh everywhere ; but even his
sleepless vigilance could not guard every scattered dwell-
ing. Issuing in small parties, these miscreants would
fall at midnight upon some unprotected farm-house or
feebly-defended station, plunder and slay the occupants,
and be miles away before pursuit could be undertaken.
For some years their favorite field for depredation had
been the Cumberland settlements, and, since the destruc-
tion of Coldwater, their towns had been the thorough-
fare of the Creeks in their raids upon Robertson. Every
white man beyond the Alleghanies prayed for vengeance
upon them, but until their secret haunts among the
mountains should be discovered, that prayer had to
remain unanswered. At last, however, came this strip-
ling, Joseph Brown, to meet this Goliath of Gath,
and through him the power of the Chickamaugas was
broken.
CAPTIVITY AMONG THE CHICKAMAUGAS. 229
His father was Colonel James Brown, an officer of the
North Carolina line during the Revolution, who, for his
services in the war, had been paid in ** bounty-warrants,"
which he entered for lands on the Duck, Tennessee, and
Cumberland Rivers. Early in 1788, he resolved to mi-
grate to a tract he had '* located" about two miles west
of Nashville, and, the only overland route to that place
being as yet merely a hunter's trace through the forests
of Kentucky, he decided to take the river route, of
nearly two thousand miles, down the Holston and
Tennessee, and up the Cumberland, which eight years
before had been followed by the party under John
Donelson.
Building a stout flat-boat upon the Holston, he em-
barked in it with his family, consisting of his wife, five
sons and four daughters, on the 4th of May, 1788. With
him also were five young men going out to settle in the
new country, and several negro servants. Two of his
sons were grown to manhood, and all of the men had
rifles, and were good marksmen, and, in addition, in the
stern of the boat was mounted a swivel. Thus well
armed, the party felt little apprehension of danger from
the Indians, though they knew that at the time the
Creeks and Cherokees were waging a war of extermina-
tion against the French Broad settlers. But this wa» a
private conflict between the savages and John Sevier, in
which neither North Carolina nor the United States took
any interest. It is probable that Colonel Brown for this
reason concluded that the Chickamaugas would not mo-
230 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
lest a peaceable voyager, who had uo connection with,
and did not so much as know, the '' Great Eagle of the
pale-faces. "
At dawn of the fifth day of his voyage, Colonel Brown
passed the Indian towns at the mouth of Chickamauga
Creek, and a little after sunrise was abreast of Tus-
cagee, a small place opposite the present site of Chatta-
nooga. There a canoe put out from the shore, and ap-
proached within short hailing distance of the flat-boat.
In it were four warriors, one — evidently a chief — an uglj-
visaged savage of huge proportions, who spoke to Colonel
Brown in English, and asked to be permitted to come on
board his boat. Suspecting no harm, the colonel con-
sented, and the savage after some friendly conversation
sprang again into his canoe, and paddled to the shore
whence he came. This was Cutleotoy, the same who
four years later made his appearance as a sj)y on the
Cumberland.
The treacherous savage at once dispatched swift mes-
sengers down the river, to apprise the lower towns of the
approach of the boat, and with orders to plunder it of
its contents, and murder its occupants. This was done.
When the boat arrived abreast of Nick-a-jack, one of the
lower towns, it was suddenly surrounded by a dozen ca-
noes, each one containing about ten warriors. By strate-
gem some of the savages succeeded in boarding the boat ;
and then ensued one of those tragedies so often enacted
in that dreary solitude, where a kind of spectral horror
still seems to brood over the desolate mountain-girt river.
CAPTIVITY AMONG THE CIIICKAMAUGAS. 231
In a few moments the headless body of Colonel Brown
had sunk to the bottom of the Tennessee, and his older
sons, and the five other young men, lay dead or dying
ui3on the shore. The mother, the younger children, and
the negro servants, were made prisoners.
The captor of Joseph was a young half-breed brave
named Chia-chatt-alla, the son of a renegade white man
by an Indian woman. His Indian wife being dead, this
white man had married a wretched Frenchwoman, who,
taken captive near Mobile when a child, had been brought
up and married among the Chickamaugas. She had be-
come, as was often the case with white captives, more
degraded than the native Indians. Joseph was placed in
charge of the father of Chia-chatt-alla, who led him away
to his cabin, while his captor returned to secure his share
of the plunder of the boat. '^ The old man" he writes,*
"looked much like a half-breed, though he claimed to be
English or American. His name was Tunbridge," and
his son was, by the whites, called Tom Tunbridge. " It
was this Chia-chatt-alla, or Tom Tunbridge, who claimed
me as his prisoner, and had committed me to the charge
* At the request of General Zollicofifer, of Nashville, Brown wrote
out a full narrative of his captivity, and it is copied into Ramsey's
"Annals of Tennessee," pp. 509-515. He subsequently, at the age of
eighty-six, gave a narrative, supplementary to the first, to the Tennessee
Historical Society. The two accounts I have here combined, with,
to make the narrative clear, additional facts gleaned from other
sources.
232 ADYANOE-GUARD OF WESTERN CiyiLIZATION.
of his father. He intended I should make corn for the
old people, and serye them as a son.
*^I had been at the old man's house only fifteen or
twenty minutes, when a very large, corpulent old squaw
came in, the sweat falling in big drops from her face,
who appeared very angry, and often looked at me with a
most threatening countenance. They afterward told me
that she complained of their attempt to save my life ;
that they had done very wrong in taking me away, for I
was large enough to notice everything, and would escape,
and some day pilot an army there, and destroy them all.
I did not then consider this prophetic, or ever likely to
come to pass ; but it did." The old squaw "went on to
say that all the rest were killed, and that her son would
be there directly and would kill me, she knew."
The old squaw's son was Cutleotoy. It was not long
before he arrived at the cabin, and demanded to know if
there was a white man there. " No," said Tunbridge,
who stood in the doorway, as if to prevent his entrance ;
*^^ there is a bit of a white boy." "The Indian replied
that he knew how big I was, and that I must be killed.
The old white man pleaded for my life, saying it was a
pity to kill women and children ; but the Indian used
the same argument that his mother had employed, that
I would get away, and when I grew up pilot an army
there, and have them all killed. Tunbridge was a Brit-
ish deserter, who had come to America before the Eevo-
lutionary War, and had deserted several times, and got at
length into the Cherokee nation, where he had lived
CAPTIVITY AMONG THE CHICKAMAUGAS. 233
eighteen years, and with this wife sixteen years. When
Ciitleotoy insisted on killing me, old Tun'oridge told him
I was his son's prisoner, and he was still in town, and
that I must not be killed. No greater insult could be
offered Outleotoy, for he was a great man, and did as he
pleased usually ; while Tuubridge's son was only twenty-
two years old, and a perfect boy in Cutleotoy's estima-
tion. Incensed at this insult, he came to Tunbridge
with his knife drawn and tomahawk raised, and asked
him if he was going to be the Virginian's friend ; in fact,
he would have killed him instantly, had Tunbridge ad-
mitted it. But Tunbridge said ' No,' and, stepping back
from the door-sill into the house, spoke for the first time
in English, ' Take him along.'
'^ Outleotoy, who was a very large, strong Indian, fol-
lowed in a rage, and came to me with his knife and toma-
hawk both drawn. But the old woman begged him not
to kill me in her house. To this he agreed, and, catching
me by the hand, jerked me up, and out of the house.
Outside were ten of his men surrounding the house-door,
and one had in his hand the scalp of one of my brothers,
and another that of the other men, on a stick. Some
had their guns cocked, and others their knives and toma-
hawks drawn, ready to i^ut me to death. I requested
Tunbridge to beg them to let me have one half hour
to pray, to which he replied that it was not worth while.
The old Frenchwoman followed me out, and begged for
my life. They spurned her away. Then they pulled
me to one side, and began to strip ofi my clothes, that
234: ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
they might not be blooded at mj slaughter. The old
woman begged them not to kill me there, nor in the road
that she carried water along, for the road passed by her
spring. They answered that they would take me to
Eunning- Water town, as there were no white people
there, and would have a frolic knocking me over. All
this was said in Indian, however, and I knew nothing
of what they discussed.
** As soon as my clothes were off, I fell on my knees,
and cried, like the dying Stephen, * Lord Jesus, into thy
hands I commend my spirit,' expecting every moment to
be my last The old woman continued her entreaties.
Finally, she happened to use the proper argument. She
asked Cutleotoy if he took any of the white men pris-
oners. He could not say he did. She replied : ' This is
none of your prisoner. He belongs to my son, Chia-
chatt-alla. He will avenge the death.'
'^ Some of the Indians who had come with Cutleotoy,
then said that he had captured a negro woman, and sent
her up to Tuscagee already. This aroused the foster-
mother, who commenced more vehemently to reproach
him, and then to threaten that, if he killed me, her step-
son, Chia-chatt-alla, would kill the negro woman. The
other Indians by this time joined with the woman, say-
ing that Chia-chatt-alla would be sure to do as she had
said. And well Cutleotoy might fear him, for, although
he was only twenty-two years old, Chia-chatt-alla had
taken the lives of six white men. Now, the thought of
my being one day a man, and leading an army there, and
CAPTIVITY AMONG THE OHICKAMAUGAS. 235
having them killed, had giveii way to avarice, for both
Cutleotoy and his mother wanted the service of the neo-ro
woman.
''As I knew nothing of what they were saying, I was
still on my knees, trying to give my soul to God, through
the merits of the Saviour, and expecting the tomahawk
every moment. At length, the favor given to Stephen
in his dying moments came to my mind, how he saw
the heavens opened, and the blessed Saviour sitting at
the right hand of God. I opened my eyes, and, looking
up, saw one of the Indians, as they stood all around me,
smile ; and then, glancing my eyes round on them, I saw
that all their countenances were changed from vengeance
and anger to mildness. This gave me the first gleam of
hope.
''Cutleotoy then called to old Tunbridge to come
after me, that he loved me, and would not kill me ; the
other Indians, however, explained the reason of his sud-
den love to me : it was the negro he loved so much. The
old squaw, his mother, said she would have some of
my hair anyhow, and, coming behind me, loosed my hair ;
it was customary then for young j^eople to wear their
hair long ; and gathering a lock from the crown of my
head, with an old dull knife, she cut off a loarcel, and
kicked me in the side, calling me a poor Virginian. . . .
My pantaloons were then restored to me, and I was per-
mitted to return to the cabin." Naturally, the boy's
heart overflowed with gratitude to the Frenchwoman,
who had saved his life. He regarded her as an angel
236 ADYAXCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
of mercy ; but gradually she lost in liis eyes some of
her angelic attributes, and they disappeared altogether
when one day she told him that she hated the pale-
faces, and had saved his life only that he might haul
her wood, plant her corn, and dig her potatoes.
"The head-man of Nick-a-jack was away that day
at a beloved town (city of refuge) sixteen miles off,
called Stecoyee. I understood that he was much dis-
pleased with their conduct, for he was a man of fine
mind, and boasted that he had never stained his knife
in the blood of a white man. . . . His name was Breath.
He sent for me the second day after I was taken, and
warned me that some of them would kill me, if I was
not put into a family, with my hair trimmed like an In-
dian's, and my face painted. He also said that, as his
was one of the strongest families in the nation, he would
receive me into it, directing me to call him ^ uncle,' and
poor Job (Chia-chatt-alla), ^brother.' On the same day,
the 11th of May, 1788, he bored holes in my ears, cut off
my hair, leaving only a scalp-lock on the top of my head,
and taking off my pantaloons, gave me a flap and short
shirt, pulling open the collar and putting a small brooch
in my bosom.
'^Then I returned to Tunbridge's cabin, who also
told me I was one of his family, must call him * uncle,'
and Tom Tunbridge, ^brother.' On the next day I was
turned out to hoe corn in the broiling sun. By noon,
my forehead and ears, and the back of my head, and my
neck and thighs, were all blistered with the heat , but
CAPTIVITY AMONG THE CHICKAMAUGAS. 237
the Lord was good, and, when I was sick with sunburns,
sent a thunder-cloud and drove us all out of the field.
The next day it rained all day, and the third day I was
able to go to the field again."
After this he did all sorts of slavish work in heat and
cold, often fainting with fatigue and hunger, and sick at
heart with thinking of his wretched mother, and his hap-
less little brother and sisters, captives, he knew not
where, among those ruthless savages. But at length he
learned that two of his sisters, aged five and ten, were in
the family of a Spanish trader in the same town of Nick-
a-jack, and that the trader's wife was willing he should
visit them. This he did, and there learned that his
mother, a younger brother, aged nine, and two younger
sisters, had been sent away to the Creek towns on the
Tallapoosa River ; and all but one of the captured
negroes to the Cherokee towns among the Smoky
Mountains. He did not then know that his mother
had endured almost incredible hardships, been driven
on foot by the Creeks two hundred miles, and not
allowed to stop to take the gravel from her shoes, though
her feet were blistering and suppurating ; and that at
her journey's end she had been subjected to the brutality
of a Creek chief, who had made her his slave.
When the boy thought calmly of his own situation,
and of that of his mother and little brother and sisters,
the prospect seemed hopeless ; but still there kept con-
tinually recurring to him the words of Cutleotoy and his
old hag of a mother : '' He is old enough to notice every-
238 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION".
thing, and some day he will escape, and pilot an army
here, and destroy us all ! " Again and again the words
came to him, till it became his controlling thought that
his life had been saved that he might be the instru-
ment of bringing a just retribution upon the Chicka-
maugas.
This idea fixed in his mind, he went about his heavy
tasks cheerfully, but keeping his eyes and ears widely
open. He learned the Cherokee language, and was
docile and obedient, in order to gain the confidence of
his captors, and thereby discover the secret haunts to
which they fled when Sevier swept down upon them like
a whirlwind. The old chief Breath, lived near the now
famous cave of Nick-a-jack, and Joseph was often sent to
him on errands ; and there he learned that this cavern
was the principal hiding-place of the Chickamaugas
when hard pressed by their enemies. Two hundred men
posted at its entrance could, he was told, defy an assault
from ten thousand, and the cave was spacious enough to
shelter the whole Cherokee nation. Evidently, the only
way to fight the Chickamaugas was to approach, their
strongholds from the west, and thus cut off their retreat
to this cavern.
Joseph was satisfied that he had discovered the secret
that would destroy the Chickamaugas, and earnestly he
now longed for deliverance from his captivity. He was
patient, but as the winter approached his tasks grew
almost too hard to bear. ** I suffered very much," he
says, '^from the cold, and my exposure in cutting wood,
CAPTIVITY AMONG THE OHIOKAMAUGAS. 239
and taking care of a few cattle and horses. I had to
hunt after them in the cane and wood, and over the
rough and steep hills, almost mountains. I heard that
General Sevier, old ' Ohucky Jack,' as the Indians called
him, was fighting the Indians, and destroying their towns
at a fearful rate.* The Indians had a great reverence
for him, and yet a great dread of his mode of warfare."
At last he heard "that the ^old general' had surprised
the towns on Coosa River (in Georgia), killed a large
number of warriors, and captured forty or fifty of their
women and children. Thereupon the Indians proposed
an exchange of prisoners. Here was my chance for de-
liverance. They, however, opposed my exchange, on the
score of my coming from North Carolina. They said
the East Tennesseeans had no right to demand me. But
the head-man of the Indians (on the Coosa Eiver) said
that Governor Sevier ' was so contrary that he could do
nothing with him ' ; that he, the Governor, had pos-
session of his daughter, and therefore I must be re-
leased.
"In a few weeks more there was a runner sent after
us to come to Running- Water town, and when we
reached Nick-a-jack town, I found there the Indian who
had my little sister, having just returned from his hunt,
bringing his wife and my little sister. The old squaw
seemed to think as much of her as though she had been
* An account of this raid of Sevier's on the Coosa is given in " John
Sevier, the Commonwealth-Builder," p. 195.
240 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
her own child. The little girl was stripped of all her
finery, it is true ; but she was only five years old, and
when I told her I was going to take her to her own
mother, she i'an to the old Indian woman, and caught
her round the neck, so that I had to take her by force,
and carry her twenty or thirty yards. Then, telling her
that she should go to see her own mother, I set her down,
and led her by the hand. My eldest sister was at another
place, a child of ten years old.
" We got to Running Water about three o'clock, and
found that the head-man from the upper towns had come
after us. The old head-man of Nick-a-jack (Breath)
grumbled at giving us up, as we did not belong to Hol-
ston. The old Indian who had come for us said that
was all true, but that Little John (their name for Gov-
ernor Sevier) was so mean and ugly that he could do
nothing with him. This word ugly is their hardest term
of abuse. He went on to say that ^ Little John ' declared
he would not let one of their people free, unless he got
all the whites who were in the nation, naming those
taken from the boat particularly. This settled it, and
my exchange followed, as well as that of my two sisters.
I was indebted to Governor Sevier for my liberty, as also
were my two sisters for theirs. We got back to the resi-
dence of an uncle in Pendleton County, South Carolina,
after a captivity of eleven months and fifteen days. At
this time my weight was only eighty pounds, though I
was in my seventeenth year."
But his mother, and little brother and sisters, were
CAPTIVITY AMON-G THE CHICKAMAUGAS. 2il
still captives among the Creeks, and, having none of that
nation among his prisoners, Sevier could do nothing to
secure their liberation. Mrs. Brown's treatment by her
captor soon became so intolerable that she fled for pro-
tection to McGillivray, and it is a pleasure to state that
the Creek chief now showed himself possessed of the
common feelings of humanity. He ransomed the un-
happy woman from her savage owner, and soon afterward
did a like service to her daughters. Then he sent them
to their friends in South Carolina, refusing all compen-
sation for his kind offices, and promising to restore the
little son as soon as he could prevail upon his owner to
allow him to be liberated. This he at length succeeded
in doing, and thus showed that, though he might be
''very far gone from original righteousness," he was not
" wholly given over to evil."
Once more among friends and with his mother, and
brother and sisters about him, Joseph Brown grew rapid-
ly in strength, and before he was nineteen had attained
to the stature of manhood. He was far away from sav-
age life, in an old and well-ordered community ; but yet
those words of Cutleotoy were ever in his mind, and still
he dreamed of one day being the instrument of the ven-
geance of God upon the accursed slayers of so many of
his kindred. But he kept his thoughts to himself, for
experience had taught him to be silent, and patient and
wary. So he waited till he had grown to the stature of
manhood, before he proposed to his mother to carry
out his father's intention of settling on their lands in the
242 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
vicinity of Nashville. This done he would be within
striking distance of the Chickamaugas.
They traveled overland to the Cumberland, and on
his father's lands, two miles west of Nashville, the boy,
not yet nineteen, built a cabin, and assumed the duties
of head of the family. Soon the Chickamaugas were
marauding over the country ; and early on the morning
of October 1, 1792, word was brought to him that
they were besieging Buchanan's Station, about five miles
away. Seizing his rifle he hurried to the fort, and there
at the gateway, as I have related, he came upon the life-
less body of the man at whose hands he had borne so
much wrong and indignity — Chia-chatt-alla.
Now the youth thought himself old enough to take a
part in the bloody drama that was being enacted every-
where about him. He joined in the fruitless pursuit of
the savages after the attack at Buchanan's, and, either in
going or returning, came in contact with Kobertson, and
told him that he knew the secret fastnesses of the Chicka-
maugas, and could guide an army to their rear which
might effect their destruction. Robertson heard him
gladly^ but shook his head, saying he could do nothing.
The orders of Government were imperative that both he
and Sevier should act strictly upon the defensive, and
under no circumstances again invade the Indian country.
Spain was in close alliance with the Creeks and Chero-
kees. An attack upon them might provoke a collision
with her, and for that the infant republic was not pre-
pared, while all the wisdom and prudence of Washing-
CAPTIVITY AMONG THE CHICKAMAUGUS. 243
ton were required to avoid another war with Great
Britain.
Denied thus the work on which his heart was set,
young Brown volunteered in Captain Eains's corps of
rangers, and for the time devoted himself to the defense
of the settlements.
CHAPTER XL
SPAKISH MACHIN^ATIONS.
For two more years there was mourning in every
household along the Cumberland — mothers weeping for
sons, and wives for husbands, who had gone out in the
morning hale and strong, only to be borne back at night,
scalped and mutilated by the savages. The prowling
miscreants were beside every spring and hid in every
canebrake. If a stump were left standing within range
of a station, an Indian rifle was there, to greet the
settler with death on his going forth in the morning.
The fields lay waste, for it was no longer safe to till the
ground, or even to give the cattle necessary attention.
The whole settlement was housed in fortified stations,
and intercourse between neighbors was carried on only
by patrols, or under their j^rotection. It becoming neces-
sary for Robertson to meet the Governor, he had to
make the eight days' journey to Knoxville with an escort
of twelve men, heavily armed, and mounted on the fleet-
est horses in the district. Such a reign of terror had not
existed since the early days of the colony.
SPANISH MACHINATIONS. 245
Perhaps five Indians fell for every one of the settlers ;
but, still, the losses were severe enough to have led any
peoi^le but these, and any leader except Robertson, to
the total abandonment of the settlements. The *'Knox-
ville Gazette," which had been established in 1791,
devoted a column regularly to disasters on the Cum-
berland, and in every issue, after September, 1793, in
leaded tyj^e, appeared in it the following paragraph :
*' The Creek nation must be destroyed, or the south-
western frontiers, from the mouth of St. Mary's to the
western extremities of Kentucky and Virginia, will be
incessantly harassed by them. Delenda est." The deaths
had, not infrequently, numbered ten in a fortnight.
Not a score were now left alive of the two hundred
and fifty-six original settlers, who, in 1780 signed
the first ^'compact of government" in the fort at
Nashville. After diligent inquiry I can ascertain only
fifteen, and their names are herewith given, as worthy
of mention for the heroic fortitude with which, for
twelve years, they had stood their ground while death
and havoc were all around them. The names are, James
Eobertson, John Rains, John Donelson Jr., Isaac Bled-
soe, Casper Mansker, John Blackmore, Andrew Ewing,
Samson Williams, Thomas Edmeston, Mereday Rains,
Jacob and Abraham Castleman, Daniel Radcliff, John
Montgomery, and John Cowan. David Hood is the
only one of the original number who is recorded as hav-
ing, after the first year, died a natural death. Doubt-
less others made as peaceful an exit from that furnace
246 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
of fire ; but the vast majority went out of this world
while engaged in a life-and-death struggle with a savage
enemy. And what is singular is, that the fifteen sur-
vivors were am.ong those who had most freely exposed
themselves to danger, and been most conspicuous in the
defense of the settlements. But unmoved amidst that
human holocaust stood that man of iron, Robertson,
not seeing the end, not knowing but he might be cut
down in the struggle, but resolved to hold his post
because the duty had been laid upon him by the great
Overruler.
It is not pleasant to read of deeds of human slaughter,
nor is it an agreeable task to write about them. I would
gladly omit them altogether, and shall do so, except so
far as may be necessary to afford a true picture of the
time, and a correct portrayal of the characters in this
history.
The first name on this year's roll of death is that of
Evan Shelby, that brother of Isaac Shelby who received
the British commander's sword at King's Mountain.
He had settled on the Cumberland when his elder
brother removed to Kentucky. He was returning from
the Falls of the Ohio (Louisville), when his boat was
waylaid by the savages, and he and all those with him,
except his brother Moses, were killed. The next name of
note is that of Isaac Bledsoe, the long-time friend of Eob-
ertson, and one of the earliest explorers and settlers on
the Cumberland. He had gone just outside of his sta-
tion, in the early morning, and was shot down before the
SPANISH MACHINATIONS. 2J:7
eyes of his wife and children. Not long afterward a son
of his brother was killed in a similar manner ; and then
another son of Anthony, and a son of Isaac, as they
were returning from school with a faithful negro. The
negro was made a captive, but the boys, resisting stout-
ly, were inhumanly butchered. Soon after these murders
the widow of Anthony Bledsoe was pursued and fired at
when passing under escort from one station to another.
She was saved by the scout Castleman, who heroically
kept the party of savages at bay till she was out of
range of their bullets.
The next blow was to fall upon Castleman. Three of
his brothers were killed, and one was wounded, all at one
time, and within sight of his station, a short distance
from Nashville. Robertson still enjoined upon the set-
tlers a defensive warfare, and the ''^resignation and for-
bearance inculcated by the Government," but Castleman
now demanded permission to carry the war into the
enemy's country. Sympathizing with his losses, Eob-
ertson allowed him to take his own measures for retalia-
tion. Hastily gathering fifteen volunteers he i:>ursued
the marauding party as far as the Tennessee, but failing
to come up with them, or to ''kill any Indians worth
naming," he proposed to his little company to cross the
river and invade the Indian villages. Ten of the men
declined the hazardous enterprise, and turned their faces
homeward. The rest— "five brave fellows, all good
shots " — painted and disguised as savages, went with Cas-
tleman. They crossed the Tennessee near the town of
24:8 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
Nick-a-jack, intending to proceed to a smaller town
lower down the river, but before they had gone far they
came upon a party of fifty Creeks seated carelessly upon
the ground, arrayed in war-paint, and evidently about
to go upon the war-^Dath. Castleman and his men were
so well disguised that no hostile intention was suspected
by the Creeks till they had come within short rifle
range. Then the veteran scout and his five compan-
ions leveled their rifles, took deliberate aim, and fired
into the circle of savages. Six of the Indians fell dead,
two at one discharge of Castleman's gun, which was
double-shotted for the occasion. The savages broke at
once into the woods, panic-striken at the sudden and
unexpected fire, and in the confusion the little party of
whites made their way across the Tennessee, and thence
rapidly homeward. To appreciate the boldness of this
exploit it needs to be understood that it was jDerformed
in the very heart of the Chickamauga towns, where
not less than two thousand warriors were within short
rallying distance.
An achievement quite as heroic was about this time
performed by William Hall, the friend of Anthony Bled-
soe, at Greenfield Station. The station was the ordinary
stockade inclosing a few log-houses, in which five white
men, four negroes, and about twenty women and chil-
dren, had their homes. It being the planting season,
the negroes went daily to work in the adjacent fields,
under guard of two or three of the whites as sentinels
and lookouts, and all assembled at night in the station
SPANISH MACHINATIONS. 249
for protection. On this occasion a large party of In-
dians had before day formed an ambuscade in the woods
near the fort, and between it and the cleared fields.
The negroes went out early to their work, and the sav-
ages allowed them to remain unmolested until they were
about to attach their horses to the plows. Then they
arose from ambush, and, sounding the unearthly war-
whoop, discharged their guns upon the negroes. Hall,
and his four companions, were in the fort with their
rifles loaded, and, hearing the war-whoop, they rushed
out upon the rear of the savages. Hall had lost a
father and two brothers, and one of his companions a
father, mother, and also two brothers, at the hands of
the Indians, and they were nerved for a desperate
encounter. The odds were twenty to one against
them, but, not pausing to count their numbers, they
sounded the Tennessee yell, and rushed upon the sav-
ages, discharging their rifles. Disconcerted by the
sudden attack, the Indians fell back to a fence, be-
hind which they made a stand, having discovered the
small number of their assailants. Meanwhile the
whites had reloaded, and, shouting back to the de-
fenseless women and children at the station, **Come
on, twenty of you, and we'll fix them ! " they poured
upon them again the contents of their rifles, killing
four of the savages. It is probable that some of the
Indians understood the words, for they at once fell
back, and made good their retreat with the settlers'
horses, and their own killed and wounded. One of the
250 ADYANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
whites was killed, and one of the negroes mortally
wounded.
The next blow fell upon Robertson. Murders had
been daily committed almost within sight of his station,
and soon another of his sons fell by the tomahawk of the
savages. Shortly afterward one of his workmen was
killed and scalped in a field near his dwelling, and Rob-
ertson ordered a party of twenty to pursue the murderers.
With them went Jonathan, his oldest son, now a young
man of twenty-four, who, says Haywood, *^had many a
brush with the savages, always returning as good as was
sent." They soon struck the trail of the Indians, and
discovered that they had with them several horses, prob-
ably well laden with stolen property. Their route was
southwest, toward the Tennessee, and this convinced the
pursuers that they were returning to their homes ; there-
fore, they pressed rapidly on, to overtake them before
they should cross the river. In this they were success-
ful, coming up with the band after a pursuit of a hun-
dred and twenty miles, as they were going into camp for
the night on the bank of the Tennessee, where a low
ridge juts out into the water. Here they had built a
large signal-fire to give notice of their approach to their
friends on the opposite side of the river, and were
firing off an occasional gun, apparently with the same
object.
Approaching cautiously under cover of the cane,
young Robertson, and the captain of the volunteers,
reconnoitred the encampment. They counted eleven
SPANISH MACHINATIONS. 251
warriors and five women in the party, so posted that
they could be completely hemmed in, with no way of
escape except by the river, which there was broad, and
deep, and rapid. This much discovered, the two crei)t
back to their men, and all made their beds in the cane
till just before the break of day, when they moved
silently forward to inclose the savages, a few of the men
posting themselves at the water's edge, on either flank, to
cut off any who might attempt to escape by the river.
Soon some of the savages rose and began to move about,
and at this signal the whites discharged their rifles.
Two or three of the warriors were shot down as they
plunged into the river, the rest fell where they had slept,
and with them three of the women, shot down by the
bullets aimed at their husbands. '^A cleaner sweep
than this," says the old chronicle, *'had not been made
since the country was settled."
Another of Jonathan Robertson's exploits may as well
be related, inasmuch as it affords a vivid idea of the state
of things then existing around his father's dwelling. lie
had been but a few days returned from this expedition,
when he had what he termed ''a very nice little skir-
mish." With three lads, aged from ten to fourteen,
the sons of John Cowan, one of the few survivors of the
original settlers, he had gone out on a short hunt in the
vicinity of his father's station. He was armed with a
rifle, and each of the lads had a shot-gun. They had se-
cured some game, and were returning home through an
open wood, when one of the boys observed something
12
252 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERi^ CIYILIZATION.
stirring in a near-by clump of bushes, and leveled his
gun at the object. His attention attracted by the boy's
movement, the quick eye of Robertson detected the
gleaming of a rifle-barrel in the edge of the bushes.
Calling out, '' Indians ! To a tree, boys — to a tree ! " he
took at once to the nearest cover. At the word two of
the lads sprang behind two distinct trees, the other lad
taking shelter with Robertson. The tree was too small
to cover the bodies of both, and, one of the savages firing
instantly, the young lad received a ball in his thigh.
Thinking him more badly wounded than he was, Robert-
son told him to *Mie low." ^^I'm not much hurt," said
the young hero, straightening himself up, and giving the
Indians the contents of his shot-gun. In his anxiety to
get a sight upon one of the savages, Robertson exposed
his head for an instant, and in that instant an Indian
ball passed through his hat just above his ear. His
hat fell off, and the slight concussion forced him to
take a step forward, but in that position he got a clear
view of the Indian, and gave him a bullet. By this
time the lad had reloaded his gun, and, catching it up,
Eobertson sent another bullet among the Indians, and
then another, four in rapid succession, the lad loading
about as fast as he fired. Meanwhile, the other boys had
joined in the firing, and then the Indians broke from
cover, and fled toward some thicker undergrowth at a
short distance, Robertson and his three young soldiers
pursuing and firing upon them, till they were concealed
by dense bushes into which it was not prudent to enter.
SPANISH MACHINATIONS. 253
Then Kobertson called off the intrepid boys, and they
marched homeward with their game and shot-guns upon
their shoulders. In his rapid flight one of the Indians
left his gun behind him, and it was observed that several
wounded were borne into the undergrowth. A few days
afterward the dead bodies of two of the savages were
found upon the ground.
But intrepidity among these people was not confined
to men and boys ; it was possessed in as decided a de-
gree by the women, as was shown in the share they had
taken in the heroic defense of Buchanan's Station. Their
daily experience of peril brought this quality into con-
stant exercise, and numerous are the instances when
their presence of mind and cool courage warded off de-
struction or disaster from the stations. Did space per-
mit, many such instances might be related ; the one I
select is peculiar only because of the great age of the
heroine. She was known throughout the settlements as
'^Grandma Hays," and she was the mother of Colonel
Eobert Hays, a brave and active officer who was out on
the Coldwater expedition with Eobertson. She lived
with another son, Captain Samuel Hays, at what was
known as Hays's Fort, which stood about a mile east of
the Hermitage, and a short distance south of the Her-
mitage church. Her older son had married a daughter
of John Donelson, and thus was a brother-in-law to An-
drew Jackson. Her younger son, Samuel, had gone one
spring morning, in 1793, to the station of the younger
John Donelson, about two miles distant, and while there,
254 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
standing near the gateway, had been shot down by the
savages. Soon afterward all of Mrs. Hays's negroes were
captured and run off, and she was thus left with not a
soul about her but a half-witted cripple, named Tim Dun-
bar, who cultivated her garden and did the menial offices
of the household. One morning in Sei3tember, when this
man was at work just outside the stockade, Mrs. Hays
heard the report of several guns, and a moment later
Dunbar came rushing into the station, leaving the gate
open, and crying out at the top of his voice : ** Murder !
I'm killed ! I'm killed ! " Saying this, he fell in a heap
upon the floor. ^' You frightened fool," said Mrs. Hays
to him, ^' you're not hurt. If you were, you couldn't hal-
loo so. Get up, take your gun, and come with me. Be
quick, before they have time to reload ! " Thus aroused,
the man rose and followed the aged lady to the gateway.
Having secured the gate, each of them, rifle in hand, took
a position whence they could watch the surrounding
woods. Soon they caught sight of a party of Indians
secreted in the neighboring undergrowth, and, taking
deliberate aim, they gave them the contents of their
rifles. The Indians responded by a general discharge,
which wounded only the walls of the station. They
kept this up for a time ; but Mrs. Hays deigned no reply,
reserving her fire for a nearer approach of the savages.
This they did not attempt, being probably deceived as to
the strength of the garrison. The firing was heard by
the neighbors, and, thinking '^Grandrfia Hays" to be in
danger, they hurried to her relief, but before they could
SPANISH MACHINATIONS. 255
arrive the Indians bad departed. The fire of the old
lady and her servant probably wounded some of tlie
savages, for blood-stains were found among the under-
brush into which they discharged their rifles. It was
with difficulty that the neighbors prevailed upon Mrs.
Hays to then abandon her castle, and take up more
secure quarters at Mansker's Station.
The young man, Joseph Brown, soon had some ex-
perience of Indian warfare. He had occasion to visit
the Holston settlements, and, the road being infested
with Indians, he timed his return so as to be accom-
panied by the mail-rider, Thomas Ross, and Colonel
Caleb Friley. They journeyed in safety till on the even-
ing of the third day, when they were approaching the
east bank of the Little Laurel River. Here they were
suddenly fired upon by a considerable body of savages
from the two sides of the hunters' trace they were
pursuing. Putting spurs to their horses they dashed
into the river, and got away in safety. They were pro-
ceeding at a slower pace, and congratulating themselves
upon their fortunate escape, when they rode unex-
pectedly into the midst of a still larger body of sav-
ages. At once they were targets for scores of rifles.
Ross was instantly killed, and Friley and Brown
wounded, the latter in the arm, and so severely that
for long afterward the limb was useless, and splin-
ters of exfoliated bone discharged themselves from the
shoulder. ^
These mail-riders led a most precarious existence. A
25C) adya:s^ce-guard of western civilization.
few weeks after the death of Ross, Nathaniel Teal arrived
at Nashville with the mail from Natchez. Having de-
livered his bags at the office, he rode out and spent the
night with Robertson, at his station, five miles from
Nashville. Returning on the following morning, he was
waylaid and killed by the Indians when less than a mile
from Robertson's dwelling. Two companies of horsemen
were at once dispatched in pursuit of the savages, and,
though his wound was still unhealed, young Brown was
among the first to volunteer for the expedition. At the
end of five days the savages were come up with on the
northern bank of the Tennessee. Alarmed by the sound
of the approaching horsemen, they scattered into the
neighboring canebrakes, and only six were killed, but
one of these fell by a shot from young Brown's
rifle.
The foregoing incidents afford an imperfect impres-
sion of the state of things then existing along the Cum-
berberland ; but they give no idea of the number of
lives lost in the conflict. This can not be stated with
accuracy, but it is safe to say there was a death in nearly
every household. It is not strange that the people chafed
at the policy of the Government, which restricted them
from pursuing offensive measures, the only warfare that
would put a stop to the raids of the savages. The dis-
content was universal, and, had not Robertson been a
fellow-sufferer with the rest, it is not conceivable how he
could have restrained the fury of the people. As it was,
they daily clamored to be led to the destruction of the
SPANISH MACHINATIONS. 257
Chickamaugas. From every little hamlet where ten men
could be got together, they sent up petitions to this effect
to Eobertson. '^^We are loyal to the authority of Con-
gress," they said, ''but Congress can not know the
wrongs we endure ; if it did, it would allow no fear of
Spain to hold us back from vengeance on our savage ene-
mies." One of these petitions, which expresses the sen-
timents of them all, is here subjoined. It shows the firm
regard of these people for law, and their desire to sub-
mit to it, even under the terrible provocations they daily
endured. It was addressed to Eobertson as commandant
of the district. It says :
^'Your petitioners, having convened together at the
request of the distressed part of Tennessee County, in
order to set forth their grievances and to pursue some
method for their relief, beg leave to represent to you, sir,
that they have much to dread from the Indians as the
spring season approaches. The recent murders and rav-
ages committed by them on our frontiers too evidently
prove their intentions in this quarter. We already feel
the effects of the navigation of the river being shut up,
by which means we shall be deprived of the very neces-
sary article, salt, that article having already risen in its
price. Immigration to this country by water must fre-
quently cease. We also beg leave to assure you that the
frontiers will break up unless some speedy method is
taken to secure them from the inroads of the savages,
which must be followed by the most fatal consequences.
We are much afraid, sir, that Government has not vested
258 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
their officers in this country with authority to carry an
expedition against any nation or Tillage of Indians. Yet
we are confident that something must be done with the
Indians that do the mischief on our frontiers. We are
willing to pursue every lawful means to procure peace
and tranquillity among us. Therefore, we beg leave to
suggest to you ... to make a full representation of our
distressed situation and grievances to Governor Blount.
. . . We have confidence that you will do all in your
power to relieve the distresses of the people under your
command."
Robertson fully sympathized with these appeals from
the settlers. Previous to the receipt of these petitions,
he had proposed to resign his position in the United
States Army, in order that he might be free to conduct
an offensive war against the savages, and destroy the
towns whence the marauders proceeded ; but to this sug-
gestion the Governor had replied: ^'1 notice what you
say about your resignation, and the object of it ; delay it,
the time is not yet." Then again he enjoined upon his
friends and neighbors, patience. He reminded them
that North Carolina had long treated them in a worse
way, but they had survived it ; that the machinery of
government was yet new, and the settlements were
at a great distance from the central power ; and
they were enjoying many advantages they had not
known before the organization of the territorial govern-
ment.
^^ There seemed a combination of influences within
SPANISH MACHINATIONS. 259
the United States against affording aid in men or money
to these besieged settlements. The Treasury Depart-
ment greatly dreaded expenditures. The War Depart-
ment was making preparations for another grand army
in the Northwestern Territory. The Department of
State watched with keenest eye onr foreign and domestic
affairs, and was exceedingly distrustful of, and opposed
to, every appropriation and measure which might embar-
rass negotiations then pending, or accumulate difiBculties
in the way of such as it was desired to engage in at some
not very distant day."*
The principal obstacle arose from the State Depart-
ment, for the settlers could have dispensed with aid in
either men or money, and made no complaint at the
withdrawal of the small force of Government troops
when their term of service expired in October, 1792.
They only asked to be themselves allowed to invade the
Indian country. This Government refused, because the
State Department was cajoled by the deceitful diplomacy
of the Spaniards into the belief that the United States
could soon peaceably acquire the navigation of the Mis-
sissippi, but which it is now known Spain had no inten-
tion of granting on any conceivable conditions. As late
as March 8, 1803, Daniel Clark, who was in the confi-
dence of the Spanish officials, wrote to James Madison,
then Secretary of State, that " expectations of assistance
from ourselves against our own Government have been
* Putnam's " History of Middle Tennessee," p. 407.
260 adva;n'ce-guard of western civilization.
always relied on by the Spaniards, and they have con-
stantly looked to a division of our Western States from
our General Government."* In these expectations the
Spaniards were encouraged by the treasonable represen-
tations of General Wilkinson, now an officer of the
United States Army, but still in active correspondence
with Gayoso, and the Baron de Carondelet, who had
succeeded Miro as Governor of Louisiana. Hence, there
was no hope of Spain concluding a satisfactory treaty
with the United States. She was merely holding ^' the
word of promise to the ear," till Western events should
be ripe for the dismemberment of the Union.
In the summer of 1793, intelligence came to the Cum-
berland of an event which, it was at first supposed, would
lessen the savage warfare that was waged against the set-
tlements. This was the death of McGillivray, which had
occurred in the Creek nation in the previous February.
His loss was greatly deplored by the Spaniards, who re-
garded him as a most efficient instrument for their pur-
poses. As early as April, 1786, Navarro had written to
the Spanish ministry, *^So long as we shall have this
chief on our side, we may rely on having established,
between the Florid as and Georgia, a barrier which it will
not be easy to break through." This barrier would,
doubtless, have now been broken down, and the coalition
which McGillivray had succeeded in forming with the
Cherokees and Shawnees have fallen to pieces, had not
* Quoted in Wilkinson's " Memoirs," vol. ii, p. 140.
SPANISH MACHINATIONS. 261
Miro been succeeded by Carondelet, a far more energetic
man, and much less scrupulous as to the means he used
for Spanish aggrandizement.
This gentleman no sooner assumed his oflBce on De-
cember 30, 1791, than he set zealously to work to form
new alliances with the savages, and to strengthen the old
ones ; and from doing this he was not deterred by the
fact that he was thereby invading the rights and pre-
rogatives of the American Government. The Indians
dreaded the rapid advance of the Americans, and their
constant fear was that they might at some future time
strip them of their lands. It became now one of the chief
points of Spanish policy to keep this fear alive, and to
excite among the savages jealousy, distrust, and hatred of
the Americans, and to inspire them with the feeling that
'^the great king of the Spains" could and would protect
them against their encroachments. This Carondelet said
in express terms to Indians occupying American terri-
tory, and he further conciliated their good-will by large
donations to the tribes, and regular pensions to the most
influential of the chieftains. Had Spain been at open
war with the United States, he could not have proceeded
in any more hostile manner. The result was, that the
savages came to regard the Americans as their natural
enemies, and to look to the King of Spain as their legiti-
mate protector.
The sense of wrong felt by the savages made them as
tinder to which a spark only need be applied to produce
a conflagration. McGillivray was no sooner dead, than
262 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
Carondelet applied this spark by sending his agents
among the Cherokees. The Creek chief had been the
active manager for Spain, but now the Spanish Governor
assumed personal control of affairs with the savages, and
they lost nothing in energy by the change of directors.
Within less than two months from the death of McGilli-
vray, the Spanish agents got together a grand council of
the Cherokees, from which proceeded the following talk
addressed to Gayoso, the Governor of Natchez. The
paper was, of course, of Spanish concoction, but it was
signed and adopted as their own by the principal
chiefs of the Cherokees. Its sole purpose was to
commit the whole nation to an active warfare upon
Robertson.
The paper first complains bitterly of the ungenerous
method by which, it said, the Americans had appropri-
ated to themselves the dwelling-lands of the Indians, and
then says : *' The passion of the Americans for establish-
inof themselves on the lands of the Indians is too well
known to you to need explanation. In a word, since
they, by fraudulent means, have usurped the lands of the
Indians, the nation universally reclaims and insists to
preserve its ancient limits on which they agreed with the
British. They pray you to employ all your force to ob-
tain from his Majesty this favor, if it be possible ; and if
it can not be obtained, they insist that the settlement at
Cumberland shall he removed at all events. Without
this, nothing will satisfy the Cherokees and Talpuches
[Creeks].
SPANISH MACHINATIONS. 263
"Cumberland was settled toward the conclusion of
the last war by a certain Robertson, and some compan-
ions of his, who, concealing their journey and designs,
took possession by force of those lands. Perhaps the
Americans will make it appear that they possess them by
free and lawful treaties ; but it is not so. . . .
" Robertson and his companions are the real and true
cause that so much blood has been spilled ; and the con-
fusion which has subsisted, and still subsists, is owing
entirely to this settlement ; and while it remains in this
place there is no hope of a solid peace.
"This settlement taken away, the Cherokee nation
declares that it does not desire to be an enemy of the
Americans ; it declares, moreover, that it does not enter-
tain this solicitude from caprice or pique ; and that they
never questioned the legality of their treaties under the
British Government."
Carondelet had now engaged the Cherokees in the
fight against Robertson. It only remained to bring the
Choctaws and Chickasaws into the savage coalition to
girdle the Cumberland settlements with a fire in which
they would be inevitably consumed, unless rescued by
speedy aid from the United States. And of this aid
what hope was there ? Was not the Government still re-
strained by fear of Spain ; and also was it not at that
very moment, mustering all its available strength, under
Wayne, for an attack on the NTorth western Indians ?
Piomingo had withstood all the blandishments of the
Spaniards, and for years had remained the firm friend of
264 ADYANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
the Cumberland settlers. There was no hope of detach-
ing him from Robertson. Therefore dissension and
division must be sown among his people, and they, if not
he, be won over to the Spaniards. To this end Caron-
delet now applied the most approved Spanish diplomacy.
He seduced a prominent Chickasaw chief, named Ugu-
layacabe, the wolf's friend, by an annual pension of five
hundred dollars,* to organize within the nation a party
in opposition to Piomingo, and at the same time he
incited the Creeks to make war upon the Chicka-
saws.
The Creeks began hostilities at once by entering the
Chickasaw country, stealing the horses, and taking the
lives of a few of the mountain leader's warriors. Hear-
ing of this, Robertson wrote Piomingo in a tone of en-
couragement, and to this the Chickasaw king replied by
a letter signed by himself and twenty-nine of his princi-
pal chiefs. In this letter Piomingo says: ''We head-
men have held you fast by the hand, and have told our
young warriors to do the same ; and they will, so long
as they are able to lift a hatchet. We have sent you a
war-club. When we both take hold we can strike a hard
blow. . . . Our agreement was to be as one man in re-
gard to our enemies and friends. The Creeks say, all the
Virginians are liars, and no dependence is to be placed in
them, and that we Chickasaws are fools. Their talk
* Statement of Daniel Clark to Secretary Madison, quoted in Wilkin-
son's "Memoirs," vol. ii, p. 141.
SPANISH MACHINATIONS. 265
does not alter us. Speak strong to your young warriors ;
let us join to teach the Creeks what war is. You make
whisky — send us some ; it is good to take a little at war-
talks.
*' We believe the Choctaws will join us, and not our
enemies. They need ammunition and guns, as well as
we ; muskets, rifles, smooth-bore, will do. As we made
no crops last year, we are in a starving condition. Send
us quickly fifteen hundred bushels of corn, two barrels of
flour, one hundred bushels of salt, one hogshead of to-
bacco, fifty bags of vermilion, as it is greatly needed in
war. Do not forget the whisky. And we desire that
General Washington will station a garrison at the Muscle
Shoals, or Bear Creek."
Kobertson, though of opinion that it was ^^ devilish
for Indians," did not ^"^ forget the whisky." Without
a day's delay he loaded a flat-boat with the desired sup-
plies, and dispatched it under charge of his son Ran-
dolph, and a suitable guard, to his good friend Piomin-
go, at the Chickasaw Bluffs (Memphis). From the mani-
fest, subsequently furnished to the War Department, it
appears that the boat's cargo consisted of five hundred
stand of arms, two thousand pounds of joowder, four
thousand flints, fifteen hundred bushels of corn, fifty
pounds of vermilion, one hundred gallons of whisky,
together with an armorer and his tools. The armorer
was sent along to man the one solitary brass swivel,
which had for so long a time done duty on the fort at
Nashville. He was to work it in case of an attack on
2G6 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
the boat, and, on arriving among the Chickasaws, was to
instruct them in its management. The supplies arrived
safely, and were acknowledged by Piomingo in the fol-
lowing letter, which is still on the files of the United
States War Department :
" Chickasaw Nation, June 17, 1793.
"Dear old Friend : I have received several letters
from you since I was able to answer you, owing to mat-
ters being unsettled, as they are here at present. I re-
ceived the corn and other articles by your son Randolph,
for which I thank my brothers, the Americans, for con-
sidering us in so great need. Our situation has been
such that we could not pass to you as usual. I have
sent one man with your son, as he requested, and hope
shortly to come in myself. Whether this will ever reach
you is uncertain, for I hear the path is watched by
Creeks and Cherokees, in order to intercept all messages
passing, and I fear your son will never reach Cumber-
land ; but, if he should be so fortunate as to get in, he
can inform you of the circumstances of all matters, as
I have made him fully acquainted with all within my
knowledge. His being a woodsman, and going on foot,
give me hopes he may get in safe. He can inform you
of my unsettled situation, which, as soon as I can alter,
and get my business arranged, you may be sure of seeing
me. I endeavored to prevail with your son to wait
longer, until he might go safer, but in vain, as he was
anxious to get in to let you know how matters were.
SPANISH MACHINATIONS. 267
that you might inform Governor Blount ; so he prefers
going at the risk of alh I have often told you of the
Creeks and Cherokees, which I am sure they will not
cease to continue till they feel the weight of the white
people, which I hope will not be long. Surely, my
friend, if you knew how lightly and despisingly they
speak of you and your friends, you could not bear it as
you do. If we did not know you to be warriors, we
should not know what to think of your calling them
friends. We, the Chickasaws, who are but one very
small house in the great city, the United States, could
not bear to throw away and let the blood of one man
pass without retaliation. The Creeks were the aggress-
ors, and asked a cessation of arms of us, as your son can
inform you. If you would treat them so, they would
not think as little of you. There are very bad talks
going on at this time, of which I shall be better able to
inform you hereafter. Your son can tell you of seeing
Cherokees coming in, which he saw with scalps and war-
instruments, to invite us and the Choctaws to join all
other Indians to war against the United States. The
Spaniards are getting all the Indians they can to a treaty
at the Walnut Hills. What their intentions are is un-
certain, but, I apprehend, nothing to your advantage,
which you will be better able to judge when I arrive ;
it will then be in my power to inform you of all that is
of consequence. I intend to visit the President when I
come in — your son has promised me to go with me. I
hope you will not be against it. Please to let Governor
268 ADVAT^CE-GUARD OF WESTERiN" CIVILIZATION.
Blount know of it, which will be about four or five
weeks. I want you to get Simson to make me a gun
like Colonel Masker's. I hope you will take great care
of yourself, as both the Creeks and Cherokees will try to
get you. Keep out your scouts at a great distance ; it
will be best for safety, and not let them hunt near you,
as they always do you mischief when breaking up to go
home. I am very glad to hear you say that, the Presi-
dent has sent a great warrior to command his army
against the Northern tribes if they do not treat. But,
my brother, I hardly know what you mean by treating
with tribes that are always at war with you, and will be
until you whip them ; perhaps you may then have a
treaty with them that may keep peace. Did I not tell
how the Creeks and Cherokees would behave when they
treated ? I said they would pay no regard to what they
did ; so you found it. If we confirm a treaty with the
Creeks, they will be told every injury done us will be
retaliated for, and we will observe to do it.
**I am and will be your friend and brother,
''PlOMINGO.
"General Robertson."
Young Robertson, on his way down the Mississippi,
touched at New Madrid, and was received with a vast
deal of polite ceremony by the Spanish commandant,
M. Portell. He was, however, no sooner out of sight,
than the courteous Spaniard dispatched a canoe down
the river to Carondelet, with information that Robertson
SPANISH MACHINATIONS. 269
was arming the Chickasaws with brass artillery. At
once Carondelet conveyed the astounding intelligence to
the Spanish minister at Philadelphia, and on the same
day expressed his sentiments upon the subject in a letter
to Eobertson. In this letter, after a number of compli-
mentary remarks, he says : " I have felt the greatest con-
cern on account of the measures taken by you to comply
with the request of the Chickasaw nation, sending them
such supplies, and at the same time a little piece, an arm
too dangerous in the hands of Indians. . . . The jDolicy
of the United States and of Spain is carefully to conceal
from them its use. This has been my conduct toward
the Cherokees ; and really I have prevailed upon them to
stop all hostility against the Cumberland settlements(!).
This they will observe, unless forced to take up arms in
their own defense."
Then the Governor spoke graciously of "his Catholic
Majesty" mediating with Congress to fix the Indian
boundaries, which, being advantageous to both parties,
might prevent further controversy. He had tried this
with the Creeks, whom lie, had turned from their hostil-
ity to the Georgians(!). He had also refused a supply of
arms to the Creeks at Natchez, and to the Chickasaws at
"Walnut Hills. It was probable, he said, that a general
peace would shortly take place, without which the Cum-
berland colony could not flourish ; and, in conclusion, he
expressed a desire to meet General Robertson, and to ex-
press to him personally the high esteem in which he held
him.
270 ADYANCE-GUARD OF AVESTERN CI V1LIZAT10:N .
In mendacity and impudence this letter rises to the
height of sublimity. The presumption of a petty Span-
ish Governor, in thus addressing an American official,
exhibits the low estimation in which this country was
held when it first took rank among nations. However,
the Spanish gentleman did not overestimate the value
to the Chickasaws of that *' little piece." In their hands
it was to be more potent against the Creeks than a
thousand rifles.
Through Piomingo, Eobertson had been well informed
of the intrigues of Carondelet with the various tribes of
savages ; but, restraining his indignation, he replied to
him with a courtesy which would have done credit to
Sevier himself. His letter was as follows :
"MiRO District, Nashville, December 5, 1793.
'^Sir: I had yesterday the honor of receiving yours
of the 21st of May, and am happy to find your Excel-
lency's sentiments so congenial with my own, relative to
the treatment proper to be given our Indian neighbors.
When we reason from general principles, a small degree
of reflection will show us the impropriety of enlightened
nations furnishing savages, even in time of war, with
weapons that a few months may turn against themselves;
much more so in a time of peace. This, sir, is however
an idea that did not occur to me at the time I sent the
piece to the Chickasaws ; but that step was merely the
effect of an effusion of friendship for them in conse-
quence of their faithful adherence to our interests^ and
SPANISH MACHINATIONS. 271
perhaps will appear less reprehensible when it is con-
sidered they were then at open war with the Creeks, who
have been our constant and inveterate enemies. I must,
however, observe that this was altogether a transaction
of my 01V71, and must not be charged on our General
Government, to which application was made for several
more, which was refused.
*'I can assure your Excellency that every opportu-
nity has been made use of to impress on the Indians
the idea of friendship subsisting between Spain and the
United States, and particularly by his Excellency the
Governor of this Territory, at a treaty held by authority
of the United States with the Choctaw and Chicka-
saw nations at this place in 1792, and it has been my
particular care at every conference to hold out the same
idea.
"Various reports have circulated with us of the
Spanish Government having incited the Indians to war
against us, of which I held it my duty to inform Gov-
ernment ; though, at the same time, I knew not how
to reconcile this with information I received through
the channel of correspondence with several Spanish
officers, and other corroborating circumstances, wholly
incompatible with such measures, which also I remarked
in my representations to Government.
"The establishment of peace is indeed a very im-
portant object, especially for our infant countries ; and
it gives me the greatest pleasure to find the measures
of your Government directed to that end, and the more
272 ADVANCE-GUAED OF WESTEEN CIYILIZATION.
so that, if sincerely pursued, which I doubt not they
are, they can not fail of success.
*^The honor of an interview with your Excellency,
thoudi it would afford me real satisfaction, is what I
rather wish for than expect ; yet it may still be in our
power to correspond, which I flatter myself will be
done."
It was not long before Ugulayacabe, on his return
from a visit to Carondelet, arrived at Nashville, making
earnest inquiry if Piomingo had ceded some of the
Chickasaw lands to the Americans. Eobertson knew of
his efforts to stir up opposition to the mountain leader,
and, readily discerning his motive in asking this ques-
tion, he gave him no satisfaction. His distrust of this
chief was shared by the Cumberland people, who, haying
lost all veneration for princelings, insisted upon abbre-
viating his name into Ugly Cub. However, he appears
to have created, by means of Spanish gewgaws, enough
of a party among the Chickasaws to secure the adhesion
of some of the chiefs to an offensive and defensive alli-
ance which Carondelet soon succeeded in forming with
the Cherokees, Creeks, and Shawnees.
By this treaty these several nations formed a confed-
eracy for mutual assistance, binding themselves to act in
nothing which had a bearing upon the interest, security,
or welfare of any one of the parties, without the consent
of all, and the approval of the Governor of Louisiana.
And/ in return for the aid and protection of Spain, the
SPANISH MACHINATIONS. 273
Indians agreed to contribute, to the utmost of their
power, to maintain ''his Catholic Majesty" in possession
of the provinces of Louisiana and the two Floridas.
When this treaty had been concluded, Carondelet wrote
exultingly to tlie Spanish ministry that he could then,
for a trifling annual expenditure, oppose to the Ameri-
cans an army of twenty thousand Indian warriors.
The Shawnees had resolved upon tlie destruction of
Piomingo, on account of the aid he had given to Saint
Clair in his expedition against them in 1791 ; the Creeks
were preparing to begin upon him a w^ar of extermina-
tion, because of his faithful adhesion to Eobertson ; and
now a number of his prominent chiefs had been lured
from their allegiance by the arts of the Spaniards. All
this he knew, and he wrote to Robertson that his' sit-
uation was desperate, but that he should stand erect,
and acquit himself like a true man and a Chickasaw
warrior.
This Robertson had from him by a special messenger.
By the next express he heard that Piomingo was dead —
assassinated in the heart of his own nation, by (it was
believed) a Chickamauga warrior. '' His death," says
the old chronicle, ''was much lamented by the people of
Cumberland " ; but by none was the noble savage so
much mourned as by Robertson, who loved and trusted
him as if he had been his own brother.
With Piomingo dead, Robertson could not count on a
certain continuance of friendly relations with the Choc-
taws and Chickasaws. Without their great leader, they
274 ADVATs^CE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
could not be expected to resist the pressure which would
be brought to bear upon them by the other nations.
Therefore, Robertson had now before him a war with
a combination of all the Southwestern Indians. It is
clear that at no previous time had his situation been
more desperate.
CHAPTER XII.
THE CHICKAMAUGA EXPEDITION".
From Piomingo Robertson received early intelli-
gence of the offensive and defensive alliance which had
been formed between the Spaniards and the several
Southern tribes, and he fully realized that his only hope
of peace now lay in a prompt invasion of the Indian
country. This was made more clear to him by a report
from James Carey, one of the interpreters for the United
States residing with the Cherokees, who said that "tlie
impression generally prevailed with the Indians that the
reason why the Americans did not retaliate, but patiently
bore the injuries they had received from them, was the
posture of their negotiations with foreign powers, and
their fear of offending them ; and that, if it was not for
this, the Americans certainly would not be offering and
begging peace in return for the murders, robberies, and
bloodshed, daily committed on their citizens."
Governor Blount appreciated the situation of the
Cumberland settlers, and urged upon the Secretary of
War the necessity of speedy measures being taken for
13
276 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
their protection. " My apprehensions," he wrote to him,
"for those unhappy, exposed, and too defenseless people,
are very great and truly distressing. What is to be their
future, judging from their past and present impending
danger, is a very serious question."* But it seemed im-
possible for General Knox to realize the situation. He
did not understand why the Creeks and Cherokees did
not observe the recent treaties, nor accept the fact that
nothing but fear of punishment would restrain them
from bloodshed and horse-stealing. He had already
withdrawn Major Sharp and his one hundred and ninety
men to re-enforce the army forming under Wayne to
beat back the Northern Indians ; and he now wrote to
Governor Blount : " Can not the Indians be appeased by
gifts ? Have not most of their acts been provoked and
done in retaliation ? Will not a hundred mounted men,
ranging through the woods, and along the dividing ridges
and the boundaries to which they have assented, be all
that need be done ? Is it not most important of all to
restrain hunters, spies, and speculators from intrusions
upon Indian territory ? "
It was idle to argue with such ignorance, and conse-
quently Robertson decided upon a direct application to
Congress. When the first Territorial Legislature met at
Knoxville, in February, 1794, he induced the members to
forward a memorial to that body on the subject. '' In it
they demanded a declaration of war against the Creeks
* " American State Papers," vol. v, p. 436.
THE OHICKAMAUGA EXPEDITION. 277
and Cherokees ; and stated that, since the treaty of Hol-
ston, they had killed, in a most barbarous and inhuman
manner, upward of two hundred citizens of the United
States, residents in this Territory, without regard to age
or sex, and carried others into captivity and slavery, and
had robbed the citizens of their slaves, and stolen at
least two thousand horses, which, at a moderate calcula-
tion, were worth one hundred thousand dollars.*
*^ Scarcely is there a man of this body," said the
memorial, *^but can recount a dear wife or child, an
aged parent or near relation, massacred by the hands of
these bloodthirsty nations, in their houses or fields ; nor
are our neighbors and friends less miserable. Such have
been the sufferings of your fellow-citizens resident in this
Territory, more than ought to be imposed on men who,
by their joint exertions with the citizens of the United
States at large, have achieved freedom and independ-
ence."
By Congress this memorial was referred to a commit-
tee, which by its chairman, Mr. Carnes, reported " That,
from the representations made to them, the condition of
the Territory calls for the most energetic measures, and
they recommend that the President shall be authorized
to call out an adequate military force to carry on offen-
sive operations against any hostile tribe, and to establish
such posts and defenses as may be necessary for the per-
manent security of the frontier settlers." And this was
* Havwood.
278 ADVANCE-GUAED OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
all that was done. Congress adjourned without taking
any further action whatever on the subject !
Then Robertson decided upon a direct appeal to
Washington. He induced the Territorial Legislature to
instruct their representative in Congress to present to
him " the additional list of one hundred and five of our
fellow-citizens who have suffered by the Creeks and
Cherokees since our memorial to Congress in the spring,
in addition to the former and cruel acts of hostility with
which this Territory has been insulted by those Indians ;
and to assure his Excellency that if the people of this
Territory have borne with outrages which stretch human
patience to the utmost, it has been through our venera-
tion for the head of the Federal Governme7it, and through
the hopes we entertain that his influence will finally ex-
tend to procure for this injured part of the Union that
justice which nothing but retaliating on an unrelenting
enemy can afford."
The reply to this last appeal came to Governor
Blount, and he at once conveyed it to Robertson. It
was as follows : " With respect to destroying the Lower
Towns, however vigorous such a measure might be, or
whatever good consequences might result from it, I am
instructed specially by the President to say that he does
not consider himself authorized to direct any such meas-
ure, more especially as the whole subject was before the
last Congress, who did not think proper to authorize or
direct any offensive operations.^''
This letter Robertson read to his neighbors, and it
THE OHICKA.MAUGA EXPEDITION. 279
only served to increase the war feeling. *^ Defensive
measures !" they exclaimed ; ''keep at home, and watch,
and wait, and allow the creeping savages the first fire !.
We know what that means. It means more murders of
our friends and kindred, and in the end extermination."
At the same time came two ex23resses from George Col-
bert, a prominent chief of the Ohickasaws, with informa-
tion that a large number of Creeks and Cherokees were
embodying to invade the settlements along the Cumber-
land ; that a war of extermination was determined on,
and that the agents of Spain urged, and were to aid in,
its prosecution.
The Indian murders and outrages continued without
abatement, and among the killed were again some of the
most prominent citizens. Things had come to a pass
when self-preservation became the only law that could be
recognized ; and, seeing that Congress had done nothing,
Eobertson now announced to the people that he should
at once equip and march a strong force to the destruc-
tion of the Chickamauga towns. If his conduct should
not be approved by the Government, he would resign, or
submit to any punishment that might be inflicted upon
him. A few days previously, he had heard that General
Logan and Colonel Whitley, two of the most popular
leaders in Kentucky, were calling for volunteers to in-
vade the Cherokee country ; and that Major Ore, of the
United States Army, with sixty men, had been ordered
to range the Cumberland Mountains in search of small
parties of hostile savages. To these officers he dispatched
280 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
expresses requesting them to bring all the troops they
could muster to the block-house, two miles east of Bu-
chanan's Station, by August 19th, and then he proceeded
to call for volunteers within his own department. This
done, he sent for Joseph Brown, and requested him to
explore a route practicable for horsemen through the
woods to Nick-a-jack. The young man was still suffer-
ing from his wound, and was asked to go a distance of
more than a hundred miles through a trackless forest,
never yet trodden by a white man, and behind whose
every tree might lurk a Chickamauga; but with only
two or three companions, he set out and returned in
safety, carefully blazing a route for the army which was
to follow.
The whole country rose at the call of Eobertson.
More than a thousand men volunteered to go upon the
expedition, but no less than three bands of savages were
known to be then marauding along the Cumberland, and
a considerable force must remain behind to protect the
settlements. Colonel Whitley had come in with a hun-
dred men from Kentucky, and Major Ore with the sixty
regular troops, whom the Governor had detailed to range
the Cumberland Mountains. To these Robertson added
such a number of volunteers as brought the whole force
up to five hundred and fifty men, all of whom were well
armed and well mounted. He was himself still suffering
from the wounds in his arm and foot, and not able to
endure the exposure and fatigue of such an expedition ;
therefore, command of the little army was given to Colo-
THE CHICKAMAUGA EXPEDITION. 281
nel Whitley, a brave man, and mucli experienced in In-
dian fighting. However, as Major Ore's force was the
only one levied by public authority, it was decided that
he should have nominal command, in order to entitle the
volunteers to pay from the General Government. On
the 30th of August, before the men were fully ready to
set out, Eobertson wrote the Governor apprising him of
the intended expedition, and six days later issued to
Major Ore the following marching orders :
"Nashville, September 6, 1794.
'^ Major Ore : The object of your command is, to
defend the District of Miro against the Creeks and
Cherokees of the lower towns, who I have received in-
formation are about to invade it ; and also to punish
such Indians as have committed recent depredations.
For these objects you will march, with the men under
your command, from Brown's Block-house on the 8th
instant, and proceed along Taylor's Trace, toward the
Tennessee ; and if you do not meet this party before you
arrive at the Tennessee, you will pass it, and destroy the
lower Cherokee towns, which must serve as a check to
the expected invaders ; taking care to spare women and
children, and to treat all prisoners who may fall into
your hands with humanity, and thereby teach those sav-
ages to spare the citizens of the United States under
similar circumstances. Should you iu your march dis-
cover the trails of Indians returning from the commis-
sion of recent depredations on the frontiers, which can
282 ADVANOE-GUAKD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION-. ,
generally be distinguished by the horses stolen being
shod, you are to give pursuit to such parties, even to the
towns from which they came, and punish them for their
aggressions in an exemplary manner, to the terror of
others from the commission of similar offenses, provided
this can be consistent with the main object of your com-
mand, as above expressed — the defense of the District of
Miro against the expected party of Creeks and Chero-
kees.
^'I have the utmost confidence in your patriotism and
bravery ; and, with my warmest wishes for your success,
^^I am, sir, your obedient servant,
"James Robeetsoj^,
" Brigadier- GeneraV^
I need not follow the troops on their toilsome march
of a hundred and twenty miles through the unbroken
wilderness. They encountered no Indians on the way,
and their presence was not discovered when, on the night
of the 12th of September, they went into camp on the
bank of the Tennessee, directly opposite to the town of
Nick-a-jack. The river at this point is three fourths of
a mile wide, and the current in places is deep and rapid ;
but such was the eagerness of some of the force to get
within rifle-range of the savages, that they plunged at
once into the stream, and, some on rafts of cane, and
some on the backs of their horses, or swimming beside
them, made their way across the river. Among these
last was young Brown, and the twenty sharp-shooters
THE CIIICKAMAUGA EXPEDITION. 283
■who formed his company — for, on account of his zeal and
many services, he had already been advanced to a cap-
taincy. There, shielded from the enemy by the tall cane
that grew along the bank of the river, they waited in
breathless silence for the morning.
With the first streak of dawn the little party which
had crossed the river was joined by the larger portion of
their comrades, and then silently they moved down upon
the Chickamaugas. A scene of havoc and death followed.
Taken by surprise, the Indians fled at first in all direc-
tions, the larger number toward the river, with intent to
gain the cave of Nick-a-jack, or some other inaccessible
hiding-place in the near-by mountains. But from these
retreats they found themselves cut off by young Brown
and his little company, who mowed them down without
mercy. Then they turned their steps to the narrow pass
between the river and the mountains, which led to the
town of Running Water. Here they were met by re-en-
forcements from that town, and, recovering from their
panic, made a stand, and fought for a time with desper-
ate bravery. They largely outnumbered the whites,
but could not resist their impetuosity, and in half an
hour there was not left in either town a solitary Indian
warrior. Seventy lay dead upon the ground ; the rest
had fled by the river, or into the adjacent forest. Then
the torch was applied to the two towns, and soon every
dwelling within them was reduced to cinders.
When the fight was over, young Brown returned to
Nick-a-jack, and inquired if any prisoners had been
284 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
taken. He was directed to a cabin where some twenty
were confined, and, entering it, found there, crouching
in a corner, his former mistress, the old Frenchwoman.
All the captives recognized him, and were terror-stricken,
remembering his murdered kindred. The old woman
was the only one to speak. She pleaded for their lives,
reminding Joseph that she had saved him when he was
about to be murdered by Cutleotoy. "We are white
people," he said to her; "we do not kill women and
children." "Oh, co-tan-co-ney ! " ("Oh, that is good
news to the wretched ! "), cried the old woman.
In concluding his report of the expedition to the Gov-
ernor, Major Ore says : "At Nick-a-jack were found two
fresh scalps which had been lately taken at Cumberland ;
a quantity of powder and lead, lately arrived there from
the Spanish Government ; and a commission for the
Breath, the head-man of the town, who was among the
killed." The prisoners taken informed him that a party
of Creeks and Cherokees had just gone forward to raid
upon the Cumberland; and he adds, "They also in-
formed me that two nights before the destruction of
Kunning Water, a scalp-dance was held in it, over the
scalps lately taken from Cumberland, at which were pres-
ent John Watts, the Bloody Fellow, and other chiefs of
the Lower Towns, and it was determined to continue the
war in conjunction with the Creeks with more activity
than heretofore, and to erect block-houses at each of the
lower towns for their defense, as advised by the Spanish
Government."
THE CHICKAMAUGA EXPEDITION. 285
As Nick-a-jack was taken completely by surprise, on
it fell the heaviest slaughter. To it belonged the war-
riors who had murdered the Brown family, and, in lead-
ing the troops to its destruction, young Brown felt that
he was acting as ^^ God's avenger." This feeling contin-
ued with him to the very last, and when he wrote out his
narrative, at the great age of eighty-six, he said, '^The
judgment of Heaven fell upon the Indians."
The towns of Nick-a-jack and Eunning Water were
now the principal crossing-places of the Creeks in their
raids upon the Cumberland. All the Indian trails
branched from those places, and not from the towns
higher up the river ; and hence, by the most liberal con-
struction of his orders. Major Ore was not at liberty to
attack the three other towns, though they were no doubt
equally as guilty. Therefore, when the work of destruc-
tion was completed, he crossed the Tennessee with his
prisoners, and marched back to Nashville, with only
three of his command so much as wounded.
On the return of the troops from the expedition.
Major Ore made a full report to the Governor ; but before
that date, and as soon as he received Eobertson's letter
announcing his resolution, Blount wrote to him : '' You
can't conceive my surprise and mortification on being
taught to believe that you have so far countenanced the
lawless attempt of Whitley as to give conditional sanc-
tion to troops going with him. ... I hope the condi-
tional order of muster was not in writing. I know not
the price I would take to report such an order to the
286 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
War Department. Your letter of 30tli ult. will be de-
stroyed, that it may never rise in judgment. Don't sup-
pose this too severe ; it proceeds from my personal
esteem, and the high value I set upon your public char-
acter. No good consequences can arise from such unau-
thorized expeditions." In a subsequent letter, dated the
2d of October, he says : " None of your letters hereto-
fore written will appear, so that you have it in your
power to take up the subject at large, and state your
reasons."
Put thus upon the defensive, Robertson rej)lied
promptly to this letter as follows :
"Nashville, October 8, 179^.
'' Sir : I have to acknowledge the receipt of your Ex-
cellency's letter of the 2d instant. Inclosed you have
a copy of my order to Major Ore, of the 6th of Septem-
ber ; my reasons for giving it were that I had received
two expresses from the Chickasaws — one by Thomas
Brown, a man of as much veracity as any in the nation,
the other by a common runner — giving information that
a large body of Creeks, with the Cherokees of the Lower
Towns, were embodying with a determination of invading
the District of Miro ; and not doubting my information,
I conceived, if Major Ore did not meet this invading
army of Creeks and Cherokees, as I expected, that it
could not be considered otherwise than defensive to
strike the first blow on the Lower Towns, and thus check
them in the advance. Nor could I suppose that the pur-
THE CHICKAMAUGA EXPEDITION. 287
suing of parties of Indians who had recently committed
murders and thefts, to the towns from whence they came,
and there striking them, could be considered as an offen-
sive measure unauthorized by the usage of nations in
such cases. It can not be necessary to add as a justifica-
tion the long-repeated, and I might say, almost daily
sufferings of the people of the District of Miro, by the
hands of the Creeks and Cherokees of the Lower Towns."
He then enumerates various murders which had been
committed in widely-separated places, during the absence
of the troops, to prove that even then three distinct hos-
tile parties were marauding through the district, and he
closed by saying : ''If I have erred, I shall ever regret it.
To be a good citizen, obedient to the law, is my greatest
pride ; and to execute the duties of the commission with
which the President has been pleased to honor me, in
such a manner as to meet his approbation, and that of
my superiors in rank, has ever been my most fervent
wish. . . . Inclosed is a copy of a letter to John Watts ;
and from my experience in Indian affairs, I have my
hopes that, from the scourging Major Ore has given the
lower Cherokees, we shall receive less injury from them
than "heretofore."
John Watts was the most redoubtable of the Chero-
kee warriors, and the acknowledged head-chief of the
Lower Towns. In the letter to him, a copy of which he
inclosed to the Governor, Robertson announced very dis-
tinctly that another expedition would be speedily sent to
destroy the remaining towns, if Watts did not at once re-
288 ADYAIS^CE-GUAED OF WESTERN OIYILIZATIOK
store all the whites who were held captive in the nation,
and also take immediate aiid effectual measures to re-
strain his warriors from further ravages on the Cumber-
land.
This letter was a direct notice to the Governor that
Eobertson would no longer be hampered by instructions
to confine himself to defensive operations. The response
which Eobertson received from Blount was a letter in-
forming him that the Secretary of War directed him to
say that ^^all ideas of offensive operations must be laid
aside/* and he added, "It will be your duty, sir, to use
your authority, in you vested, to prevent the repetition
of such acts." Robertson's reply to this was the follow-
ing letter of resignation, dated
" Knoxtille, Ocloher 23, 179^.
" SiE : Finding it incompatible with my private avo-
cations any longer to perform the duties of brigadier-gen-
eral of the militia of Miro District in the Territory of the
United States south of the river Ohio, with which ap-
pointment I have been honored by the President of the
United States, I beg leave to resign that commission, at
the same time assuring you that it is not through any
disgust with the public service, or officers of Government,
that I am induced to take this step."
In reference to Robertson's resignation the historian
Haywood remarks : *' What are the feelings excited by
this scene, in which we see an old and tried patriot, who
never once failed to fly to the succor of his country in
THE CHICKAMAUGA EXPEDITION. 289
distress, chided and reproved for an act which actually
put an end to Indian incursions, and wrested from their
hands the tomahawk and scalping-knife ? We shall be
obliged to say, if an error was committed, it was on the
side of virtue and patriotism. . . . Shall one be the
savior of his country, and for that be chagrined into
retirement ? The regrets of that country will follow his
exit, and the glow of affection shall rise at the tale.
Whoever admires the man that loves his country more
than himself, at the same time that he acknowledges the
correctness of that policy of government which is inflexi-
ble for disobedience of orders will say, with the sincerity
of truth, that, in this instance, I wish it were otherwise."
The raid upon the Chickamauga towns did, in fact,
"put an end to Indian incursions" against the Cumber-
land settlements. This result probably followed not so
much on account of the actual damage which had been
inflicted upon the Indians, as because they were shown
that their secret haunts had become known to the whites,
and they had again adopted an offensive policy that
would soon lead to their extermination. And now it was
the Indians who begged for a cessation of hostilities.
John Watts knew that Robertson's intimation of another
visit to the Lower Towns was no idle threat, and he no
sooner received his letter by the hands of a liberated
prisoner, than he applied to Scolacutta (Hanging-Maw),
now the head king of the Cherokees, to make peace for
him with the pale-faces. Scolacutta was known to have
done all he could to restrain the Chickamaugas, and con-
290 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
sequently the Governor now cheerfully granted him the
conference he requested. It took place early in Novem-
ber on the Tellico. John Watts was present, and he
opened the talk by strong expressions of penitence for
his misconduct, admitting that the Running Water and
JSTick-a-jack towns deserved the treatment they had re-
ceived. '^I know," he said, " General Eobertson to be a
good man, and that he always does what is right."
Scolacutta's speech on the occasion was so brief that it
may be given in full. "I am," he said, ^^the head-man
of my nation, as Governor Blount is of the white people.
It was not the fault of either of us that those towns were
destroyed. Their own conduct brought destruction on
them. The trail of murderers and thieves was followed
to those towns. Nevertheless, I can not neglect the re-
quest they have made to me to make peace for them."
Thus the savages, who were the sufferers by it, ap-
proved of the conduct of Robertson : it was subsequently
to receive the decided indorsement of Congress. In
April, 1798, W. C. 0. Claiborne presented to that body
the petition of Stephen Cantrill and others, for compen-
sation for services on the Nick-a-jack expedition. The
petition was referred to the then Secretary of War, who
reported the facts as exhibited by the letters of Governor
Blount, and the officers who originated and conducted
the expedition, and added these remarks : *^The destruc-
tion of the lower Cherokee towns stands upon its own
footing. That it was not authorized by the President, or
this department, is certain ; and the services for which
THE CHTCKAMAUGA EXPEDITION. 291
compensation is asked were performed on an expedition
offensive, unauthorized^ and in direct violation of orders
to Governor Blount, by whom also they were not sanc-
tioned.^^
However, with a report so decidedly adverse to the
petition, it was nevertheless granted. In a speech in
behalf of the petitioners, Mr. Claiborne said : " The ex-
pedition was authorized by General Robertson, and it
remains now for us to decide whether soldiers shall or
shall not be entitled to pay until they have previously
assured themselves of the legitimate authority of their
commanding officer. At the time when this expedition
was set on foot, a war raged between the United States
and the Cherokee nation of Indians, the horrors of which
bore hard upon the District of Miro. The very existence
of the settlement was threatened. Scarcely a day passed
without some of the inhabitants being murdered. In-
formation was received that the Indians were embodied,
in order to carry the war into the settlements.
'' What was the general to do ? Stand still ? Make
no effort to avert the danger ? He was not the man to
do that ; they were not the people to endure forever.
Already had they suffered and had patience beyond all
former example. The safety of the people required him
to act, and he struck the first blow, which was a defen-
sive one — a defensive measure fully authorized by the
usages of all nations. Citizens obeyed the command of
their officer — they had served under him before; they
did not falter now."
292 ADYANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
The opinion of Congress was that a just and wise con-
struction of his orders justified the measures pursued by
Kobertson ; and a resolution being offered that his sol-
diers were entitled to pay, it was agreed to without oppo-
sition, and a bill to that effect was at once reported and
passed unanimously.
CHAPTER XIII.
PIOMINGO.
While Robertson was making preparations for the
expedition against the Chickaraaugas, there suddenly ap-
peared before his station one morning a body of a hun-
dred and twenty savages, armed and painted for the war-
path. They rode boldly up to the gateway, and, to his
great joy, Robertson discovered at their head his devoted
friend Piomingo. A desperate attempt had been made
upon the life of the Chickasaw king by a party of Creeks,
and this had given rise to the report of his death which
had reached Robertson. Piomingo had sent several mes-
sengers to apprise his white brother of his safety, but
none of them had got through, because the Creeks and
Chickamaugas waylaid every pathway into the white
settlements. He had very narrowly escaped assassina-
tion, but the attempt to murder him had brought the
disaffected among his chieftains to their reason, and
united them against his enemies ; even Ugulayacabe now
declared that he had turned his back upon the Spaniards
forever. The Creeks and Shawnees were still hostile
294 ADYANOE-GUAED OF WESTERN CIYILIZATION-.
to the Chickasaws, but feariDg no immediate danger
from them, Piomingo had concluded to give his young
braves some experience of war, by leading them to the
help of General Wayne in his campaign against the
Northern Indians. After being hospitably entertained
by Kobertson, and furnished with an abundance of am-
munition, the troop set out on its long journey into the
Northern forests. They did good service in the battle of
Fallen Timbers, on the 14th of August, 1794 ; and then,
hearing that their country was again threatened by the
Creeks, they made all haste back to the Chickasaw na-
tion. From a runner dispatched to him by Piomingo,
Robertson received his first accounts of that battle, which
broke the power of the Northern Indians.
The Cherokees had now been subdued, but the Creeks
continued their ravages among the outlying settlements.
Only eleven days after the return of the Chickamauga
expedition, a party of fifty surprised, in his absence, the
station of Colonel Titsworth on the Red River, and in
broad day slaughtered seven of his family, and took
three of his young children and a well-grown daughter
prisoners. Pursuit being at once made by the militia of
the neighborhood, the Indians killed and scalped the
young children, but got safely away with the young
woman and a negro servant. Within a very few days the
father, half frantic with his grief, came to Robertson's
station, asking to be given a pass into the Creek country.
Only this one daughter had been left of all his family,
and he had resolved to risk his own life in an attempt to
PIOMINGO. 295
ransom her from the Indians. Strange as it may seem,
he penetrated in entire safety into the very heart of the
Creek country, and recovered his daughter without the
payment of the smallest ransom. The Creeks regarded
him as insane, and persons of disordered mind they be-
lieve to be under divine protection ; whoever does them
an injury incurs the wrath of the Great Spirit.
Only six days after the calamity to Colonel Tits-
worth's family, a similar body of Creeks attacked at
midday the station of Valentine Sevier, near Clarks-
ville. To aid in the defense of the station since the
death of his sons, he had admitted to one of its cabins a
Mr. Snyder and family, the others being occupied by
a number of young men, who were employed on his
plantation. The terrible scene that occurred there was
graphically told by Colonel Sevier, in the following letter
to his brother, John Sevier :
" Clarksville, December 18, 1794'
^'Deab Brother : The news from this place is des-
perate with me. On Tuesday, 11th of November last,
about twelve o'clock, my station was attacked by about
forty Indians. On so sudden a surprise, they were in
almost every house before they were discovered. All the
men belonging to the station were out, only Mr. Snyder
and myself. Mr. Snyder, Betsey his wife, his son John,
and my son Joseph, were killed in Snyder's house. I
saved Snyder, so the Indians did not get his scalp, but
they shot and tomahawked him in a barbarous manner.
296 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
They also killed Ann King and her son James, and
scalped my daughter Rebecca. I hope she will still re-
cover. The Indians have killed whole families about
here this fall. You may hear the cries of some persons
for their friends daily.
^^The engagement commenced by the Indians at my
house, continued about an hour, as the neighbors say.
Such a scene no man ever witnessed before. Nothing
but screams, and roaring of guns, and, for some time, no
man to assist me. The Indians have robbed all the
goods out of every house, and have destroyed all my
stock. You will write our ancient father this horrid
news ; also my son Johnny. My health is much im-
paired. The remains of my family are in good health.
I am so distressed in my mind that I can hardly write.
'^ Your affectionate brother, till death,
'^ Valenti2S"e Seviek."
A few days later the Creeks killed Colonel John
Montgomery, who had been out on the Chickamauga
expedition, and for several years had done effective serv-
ice in the protection of the settlements. Other murders
quickly followed which brought the death-roll up to
twenty-four during the last twenty days of this month of
November. When the bloody tidings reached Robertson,
he set out at once for a conference with the Governor at
Knoxville. After some delay his resignation had been
accepted by the War Department, but not to take effect
until the following August, and, before he was free from
PIOMINGO. 297
his oath of office, he hesitated to act against the Indians
on his own responsibility. He now proposed to the
Governor to urge npon the Goyernment the making of
common cause with the Choctaws and Chickasaws for
the extermination of the pestiferous Creek nation.
Governor Blount, who had all along held Eobertson
back, and dreamed of peace when there was no peace, now
cordially adopted his suggestions. He wrote at once to
the Secretary of War, recommending a thorough arming
of the Choctaws and Chickasaws, and a formidable expe-
dition under General Sevier into the Creek country.
After suggesting the plan and time of the invasion, he
went on to say that from the day of the Declaration of
Independence to the date of his letter, the Creeks had
not ceased to plunder and kill the citizens of the United
States, without cause or provocation, and regardless of
the Treaty of New York, and of all other pledges ; and,
until they were made to sensibly feel the horrors of war
at their own wigwams, they would not desist from their
murderous raids against the white settlements. If these
raids continued, the advanced settlements would be anni-
hilated, unless the Government came promptly to their
defense ; and the only effectual defense was an invasion
of the Creek country.
But the situation of the settlers was no better appre-
ciated by Secretary Pickering than it had been by Sec-
retary Knox. He refused to listen to any suggestion
for offensive operations, and expressed the opinion that
the white settlers on the frontier were the aggressors, and
298 ADYANCE-GUAED OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
the Indians stood more in need of protection from them
than they from the Indians ! He emphasized this opin-
ion by refusing to pay General Sevier's brigade for the
campaign of 1793, and the officers and men who had
served under Major Ore on the Chickamauga expedition.
After enumerating many improprieties in the conduct
of the Governor, and of General Robertson, and forbid-
ding any assistance to be given to the Chickasaws, his
letter to the Governor closed as follows: ^^Upon the
whole, sir, I can not refrain from saying that the com-
plexion of some of the transactions in the Southwestern
Territories appears unfavorable to the public interest.
It is plain that the United States are determined, if pos-
sible, to avoid a direct or indirect war with the Creeks."
A copy of this letter was sent to Robertson, and was
read by him to the leading men upon the Cumberland.
Their comment upon it was : "We have asked for bread,
and they have given us a serpent. We have prayed for a
blessing, and have received cursing. Our miserable con-
dition is now made more hopeless. We . have insult
added to innumerable injuries."
In a conference which was held in December with
the Cherokees for an exchange and release of prisoners,
their king, Scolacutta, said to the Governor that his na-
tion, in consequence of its having made peace with Rob-
ertson, was much exposed to the enmity of the Creeks ;
and he besought him, as the Cherokees and Chickasaws
were now good friends, to " tell them to join with us to
assist the white people against the Creeks. Is it true,"
PIOMINGO. 299
he asked, '*that this country" (the Cumberland) "is not
under the protection of the United States ? Or is it
that the President is not informed of the many murders
and thefts committed there by the Creeks ? " Thus it
will be seen that the Creeks had managed to secure the
ill-will of all the neighboring Indians, and that it was
then in the power of Robertson to bring all the South-
western tribes into a coalition against that troublesome
nation.
Shortly prior to this time the Spaniards had erected a
fort at Chickasaw Bluff (Memphis), and garrisoned it
with three hundred men. It was an arrogant encroach-
ment upon United States territory, and done for the evi-
dent purpose of overawing the Chickasaws. Against it
Piomingo had energetically protested, and Gayoso had
replied with pleasant phrases, but he had not removed
the fort or the garrison. Soon after this. Colonel Tits-
worth returned from the Creek nation, with his rescued
daughter, and he reported to Robertson that the Creeks
were embodying five thousand warriors for a descent, in
the early spring, upon the Chickasaw nation. Of this
no doubt Piomingo was aware, but on receipt of the in-
telligence, Robertson mounted his horse, and, with a
small escort, rode off through the woods to see, with his
own eyes, what preparations were being made by the
Chickasaw king for the defense of his nation. He found
that he had built no less than thirty-five forts in various
parts of his country, mounted the Nashville swivel on
the walls of Log Town, his capital, and drilled his war-
U
300 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
riors to garrison duty, and to fighting behind intrench-
nients. He had been an attentive observer of the ways
of the white people.
During this visit Piomingo showed to Robertson a
letter he had but recently received from Gayoso, the
commandant at Natchez, wherein the wily Spaniard ac-
cused the Americans of trespassing upon the Indian
lands, and of a design to possess the whole country.
"What" he said, "will become of the red-men, should
they be deprived of their hunting-grounds ? The true
policy for all the tribes is to unite, and make common
cause against their enemies" (the Americans). "Make
peace," he said '' with the Creeks. Be you, the Chicka-
saws and Choctaws, united ; and should you be attacked,
your faithful friends and allies, the Spaniards, will sup-
port you, and give you as many arms, and as much am-
munition, as you may want."
Piomingo knew, when he read this, that the Span-
iards had suborned one of his leading warriors to over-
throw and, perhaps, to murder him ; and that, at that
very moment, they were inciting and arming the Creeks
for a formidable attack upon his nation. " The Span-
iards wear two faces," he had often said to Robertson.
" Piomingo is not a fool. He knows his friends. Not
any of his own race have stood by him like his white
brother. "
During the winter that followed, the Cumberland
colony was altogether free from savage incursions. The
Creeks were too busy preparing to crush the Chicka-
PIOMINGO. • 301
saws, to give any attention to the white settlers ; and
the Chickamaugas, their secret retreats being now
known, did not venture to invite the second visit
threatened by Eobertson. The lawless activity of
their young warriors being thus restrained, there was
danger that it would find vent in a war uj^on the
Chickasaws. This thought gave Eobertson much con-
cern. He feared that a strong combination might be
formed against Piomingo. He knew that emissaries
from the Creeks had been among the lower Cherokees,
and soon he heard that Spain had seduced fifteen hun-
dred Choctaw warriors into an alliance with the Creeks
against their traditional friends, the Chickasaws.
Without Piomingo's steady friendship of twelve years
it is probable that the Cumberland colony could not have
survived the many dangers that it had encountered. Of
this Eobertson was keenly conscious. He had positive
orders to give no assistance to the Chickasaws, and, says
Haywood, "his honest soul lamented in silence the
unapproved restraint." It is a curious fact that both
he and Sevier, the two leaders who did the most effective
service to Western civilization, and but for whose un-
wavering patriotism the trans-Alleghany region would
have been wrested from the Union, should have been
forced by circumstances to act in direct opposition to
the orders of the Government. Their acts were subse-
quently approved, but at the time they were no better
than rebellion, and had no other justification than ne-
cessity.
S02 ADYANCE-GUAKD OF WESTERN OIVILIZATIOK
Eobertson now resolved, whateyer might be the con-
sequences, to stand by Piomingo. To the prisoners
whom he returned to the Chickamaugas, he said : *' Tell
all Creeks and Cherokees that they must keep peace
with the Chickasaws. If they go to war with them,
they go to war with me. I am no longer a great chief
of the United States, but my young men will follow
where I lead, and I shall surely lead them to the de-
struction of any town that lifts a hatchet against the
Chickasaws." He said in effect the same to Goyernor
Blount when, about this time, he asked permission to
send to Piomingo such supplies of corn, arms, and am-
munition as w^ere needed to fully prepare him for his
expected conflict with the Creeks. The Goyernor had
been converted from his long belief in a peace policy, and
a recent correspondence of some asperity with Secretary
Pickering had put him in a belligerent mood ; but he
did not court an open rupture with the War Department.
However, instead of a downright refusal, he said to Rob-
ertson : **Do as you please ; but act on your own respon-
sibility, not on mine." Without delay Robertson loaded
a couple of flat-boats with five hundred stand of arms,
and a bountiful supply of corn and ammunition, and dis-
patched them in charge of Major Coffield, and a guard of
thirty-five men, to the Chickasaws. The boats were fired
upon by a party of Creeks about twenty-five miles below
Clarksville, and Major Coffield and two of the guard were
wounded, but they got safely through to Piomingo.
The supplies had not been many days on their way.
PIOMI¥GO. 303
when the Chickasaw chief, Colbert, appeared in the set-
tlements, with a small party of warriors. He had come
to ask for the same suj^plies, and for a few of Robertson's
young men to fight the enemies of the Chickasaws. He
did not fear but that single-handed his braves could whip
the Creeks and Chickamaugas, and yet he thought a few
— a very few — of the young men of his white brother,
would show the Creeks that the whites made common
cause with the Chickasaws, and impress ujDon them the
fact that if they did not desist, the great chief of the
Cumberland would soon descend upon them as Wayne
had descended upon the Shawnees, the Wyandots, and
the Delawares. If the United States should object to
this, and refuse to pay the young men, they would be
paid by the Chickasaws.
There was good sense in the suggestion, and Robert-
son at once called for volunteers, stating frankly that the
men would have to go, not as United States soldiers, but
as independent American citizens. Such a number of-
fered themselves as would speedily have bankrupted the
Chickasaw nation ; but from the whole Robertson chose
only seventy — all, however, experienced Indian fighters,
and led by Captain David Smith, and the veteran woods-
man, Colonel Casper Mansker. Early in May they ar-
rived in the Chickasaw country, and Mansker set about
a thorough examination of the Chickasaw defenses. He
strengthened the forts, and drilled the Indians, and then
sat down with Piomingo at Big Town to await the com-
ing of the Creeks, who were reported on the march to
304 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
the number of over two thousand. Log Town was the
larger place, and the capital of the country, and on the
fort there was mounted the "little piece," which had
been donated to Piomingo by Eobertson. This town
was under the command of Colbert and Captain Smith,
who had with him only thirty of the whites. The other
volunteers, and a much larger body of Indians, were at
Big Town, under Piomingo himself and Colonel Man-
sker, and it was expected that it would be the first place
attacked, as it was not defended by a swivel, a thing
much dreaded by the Indians. The Chickasaws were in
exuberant spirits, for with the "little piece" to make a
noise, and the white men to show them how to fight,
they deemed themselves invincible.
It is probable that the Creeks were not informed of
the presence of the swivel, for suddenly, on the morning
of the 28th of May, all of two thousand strong, they sur-
rounded the fort at Log Town. A half-hour before, two
Chickasaw women had gone from the fort to gather
wood in the adjacent forest. They were captured by the
Creeks, and inhumanly massacred in full view of the gar-
rison. Exasperated at the sight. Captain Smith proposed
a sortie to Colbert, but the wary chief held him back.
"It is what they wish," he said, "to draw us from the
fort. They will rush in and destroy the women and
children." But some of his warriors could not be
controlled. Rushing out, they fell furiously upon the
Creeks, but were soon forced back, leaving one of their
number dead upon the ground. Seeing that the whole
PIOMINGO. 305
party was in danger of destruction, Colbert allowed
Smith to go to their rescue, while he opened upon the
besiegers with the swivel, and every gun in the fortress.
The "little piece" mowed a wide swath through the
Creeks, and by the time it had uttered its voice a second
time, struck with panic, they fled beyond the range of its
missiles. Their leaders could not rally them to a second
charge ; and the retreat was continued till they had
arrived in their own country. Thus the little swivel
did again as effectual service as it had done fourteen
years before, when it lifted up its voice at midnight
from the walls of the fort at Nashville.
The thorough character of the Creek defeat was not
at first realized by Piomingo. lie could not credit the
fact that two thousand warriors had run away from a
single four-pounder. He looked for an early assault
from the enemy in some other i:)art of the Chickasaw
country, but no attack being made, at the end of sixty
days he let the volunteers return to Robertson.
As Robertson had expected, his giving of aid to the
Chickasaws was lamented by the War Department ; but
it was, in the following year, approved by Congress.
The first appearance of Andrew Jackson on the floor of
the House of Representatives was on the 29th of Decem-
ber, 1796, when he advocated that payment be made to the
brigade, which under John Sevier, had made the cam-
paign of Etowah ; the second, was a few days later, on
his presenting the petition of George Colbert for compen-
sation to the volunteers who had fought for the Chicka-
306 ADYANCE-GUARD OF "WESTERN OIYILIZATION.
saws. "'^The Chickasaw nation," said the chief, ^'was
about to be invaded by the Creeks, when he applied for
aid to their brother, James Robertson, who said he had
no orders to send them any assistance ; that he must first
have orders from their father, the President of the
United States. However, a detachment of volunteers,
under command of Colonel Mansker, came to their aid,
and were sixty days with the Chickasaws, helping them
to drive off their enemies." Both petitions were granted
without opposition, and thus did Colbert redeem his
promise to pay the volunteers.
The Indian is by nature a braggart, and the young
Chickasaw braves partook of this race characteristic.
They could not resist the inclination to boast of their
astonishing victory. Through all the Southern tribes
they sent word that the Creeks were '^Nockiny-ho-
bocks " — not men, but the meanest sort of women, who
had fled at the mere blowing of a buffalo-horn ; and con-
sequently the Creeks became the laughing-stock of all
the Indian nations. Directly after the fight at Log
Town, Robertson made strenuous efforts to bring the
Creeks into peaceful relations with the Chickasaws, but
that universal laugh frustrated all his efforts. The
young men of the Creeks would listen to no sort of terms
till they had shown themselves men, and not women.
After sending several fruitless embassies to the Creeks,
Robertson decided upon a personal visit to Piomingo, to
induce him to make pacific overtures to his mortified
enemies. With the Chickasaw king he found Don Ga-
PIOMINGO. 307
yoso, the Spanish commandant at Natchez, who, to Rob-
ertson's surprise, expressed as strong a desire as he him-
self felt that the hostile nations should resume peaceful
relations. He approved of Robertson's suggestion of a
friendly embassy to the Creeks from the Chickasaws.
To this Piomingo promptly assented, and, calling in his
white secretary, he dictated to him, in their presence, an
address to the ^^ head-men, chiefs, and warriors, of the
great and brave nation of the Talapouches." The paper
was adroitly phrased to heal the wounded pride of the
Creeks, and it offered a free exchange of prisoners, and
lasting friendship with his brave red brothers the Creeks.
The address being approved by Robertson and
the Spanish gentleman, Piomingo dispatched runners
throughout the nation to call his chiefs and principal
warriors together to a great council at Big Town. They
came to the number of several hundreds, and when they
were all assembled, and Piomingo had made them a
short speech in their own language, his secretary pro-
ceeded to translate his address to the Creek nation. It
was unanimously approved, and then being signed by Pio-
mingo and his principal warriors — all but he and Colbert
signing with a cross — it was certified by the secretary.
Then, at the suggestion of Robertson, a few words of ap-
proval were added to the paper, and it was signed by
himself and Gayoso. This being done, mounted messen-
gers, armed only with a pipe of peace, were, on the 13 th
of June, 1795, dispatched with the paper into the Creek
nation. On the 27th of the ensuing July the messengers
308 ADYANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIYILIZATIOX.
returned with the following answer : '^ We have smoked
your tobacco in token of peace. We desire to bury the
war-hatchet forever. Let war cease among the red-men.
As a proof of friendship, do you deliver to General Eob-
ertson all Creek prisoners, and restrain your young men
from rash acts. We will do likewise."
Piomingo promptly sent to Robertson the prisoners
he had taken from the Creeks, who went into camp un-
der the tall maples that grew about his station to await
the arrival of those who were to be returned to the Chicka-
saws. They came at last, and then all went to their re-
spective nations. Tiiis Robertson regarded as an end of
the war between the red-men, and it doubtless would
have been, had not that ugly word, *'Nockiny-ho-bocks,"
still rankled in the breasts of the younger braves of the
Creek nation. The older warriors desired peace, and,
for reasons to be soon explained, it was urgently pressed
upon them by their good friends the Spaniards. But
the mortified pride of the younger men could not be ap-
peased until they had wiped out the disgrace of their
hasty stampede from Log Town. To do this they were
resolved ; but they kept their own counsel, and so secretly
did they go about their preparations that it was weeks
before they were suspected by their chieftains, much less
by Piomingo.
Convinced by the return of the prisoners that the
Creeks were acting in good faith, the Chickasaw king
disbanded his warriors, and allowed every one to return,
with his wife and children, to his cabin or his wigwam.
PIOMOGO. 309
He and about three hundred of his braves dwelt at Bijr
Town ; and he was there with no thoujjht of danofer,
when one morning about tlie middle of September, the
place was suddenly surrounded by about a thousand yell-
ing Talapouches. The assault was so unexpected, that
for a few moments all was confusion, during which six
men, and one woman of the Chickasaws, were slaughtered.
But Piomingo was not merely a brave man, he was a sol-
dier and a general. Quickly he rallied his three hundred
warriors, and rushed with such fury upon the Creeks,
that, overborne by the fierce attack, they soon fled,
leaving twenty-six of their warriors dead upon the
ground, and bearing away a much larger number of
wounded.
In a report of this fight which Piomingo sent to Rob-
ertson, he said: '^ About a thousand Creeks came to
destroy the Chickasaw nation. They had some white
people with them ; they came with drums, and had prep-
arations to make a siege and capture of Log Town, and
of other places. A great many came on horseback. The
Chickasaws of Big Town fell on them, put them to rout,
pursued them about five miles, took all their baggage
and clothing — except their flaps — the only clothing they
had on when they began the attack."
In reply to this cheerful dispatch, Robertson wrote to
Piomingo that after inflicting upon them such another
crushing defeat, he could well afford to again offer peace
to the Talapouches. Piomingo did so, and with many
expressions of regret for the bad conduct of their young
310 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
men, his peace-pipe was accepted by the head-men of the
Creek nation. Peace came also to the long-distressed
settlers along the Cumberland. No longer was wail-
ing heard in all the land, wives lamenting for hus-
bands, and mothers for children, struck down by the
merciless tomahawk of a savage enemy. After fifteen
years of a darkness more terrible than, either before
or since, has afflicted any portion of the American
people, day at last dawned upon these heroic pioneers,
awaking a joy such as can be felt only by those who have
experienced such a long night of horrors. Of the causes
which led to this happy result I shall speak in the con-
cluding chapter.
CHAPTER XIV.
CONCLUSION".
The sudden change of front on the part of the Span-
iards, which is indicated by the action of Don Gayoso,
calls for explanation. In May, 1793, M. Genet had ap-
peared at Philadelphia, as minister from the French Re-
public, which was then at war with Spain. He was
received with enthusiasm by the American people gen-
erally, a large majority of whom felt grateful to France
for her aid in the Revolution, and sympathized strongly
in her effort to establish free institutions in Europe.
Taking advantage of this almost universal feeling. Genet
proceeded, in defiance of the remonstrances of Washing-
ton and his Cabinet, to recruit men, and fit out privateers
in American ports for active war upon the enemies of
France. He knew that Louisiana was more French than
Spanish, and that a large portion of its population would
gladly come under the domination of France ; and he was
also well acquainted with the universal discontent exist-
ing at the West in consequence of the occlusion of the
Mississippi. In these circumstances he deemed that it
312 ADYANCE-GUABD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
would be an easy task to recruit in Kentucky and Ten-
nessee a force which should descend the Mississippi, and,
with the aid of the disaffected French population, wrest
Louisiana from Spain, and erect it into an independent
republic in alliance with and under the protection of
France. To this end he dispatched active and intelligent
agents to the West to inflame the people, and recruit vol-
unteers for an armed expedition down the Mississippi.
Chief among these agents was Auguste de la Chaise, a
gentleman of French extraction, but a native of Louisi-
ana, and a member of one of its most influential fami-
lies. He was a man of exquisite address, ready elo-
quence, rare ability, and peculiarly fitted to act upon
the fiery and adventurous spirits who then composed a
large portion of the border population. He entered
upon his work with enthusiastic zeal, organizing at once
Jacobin clubs in the larger towns, and enlisting in the
/ enterprise George Kogers Clark, who had not then lost
all his early popularity.
Eeceiving a commission as major-general from the
French minister, Clark issued a call for volunteers, and
in a very brief time more than two thousand men flocked
to his standard. The Jacobin clubs also bore early fruit
in a convention of citizens which met at Lexington, Ken-
tucky, on the 24th of May, 1794. This convention was
presided over by so genuine a friend of the Union as
Judge George Muter, but it passed resolutions breathing
nothing but war, and addressed a remonstrance '^to the
President and Congress of the United States," which, to
CONCLUSION. 313
say the least, was of a most decided and energetic charac-
ter. As this remonstrance is beyond question a correct
index to the popular feeling at this period, a portion of
it is here given.
After enumerating the wrongs inflicted upon the
West by Great Britain, in the retention of the North-
western posts, and the arming and encouraging of the
Northern Indians in their depredations upon the fron-
tier, the paper goes on to say : ''That these injuries and
insults call loudly for redress, and that we will, to the
utmost of our abilities, and in any mode that can be de-
vised, support the General Government in the firmest
and most effectual measures to obtain full satisfaction
for all our wrongs.
''That your remonstrants, and the other inhabitants
of the United States west of the Alleghany and Appa-
lachian Mountains, are entitled by Nature and stipula-
tion to the free and undisturbed navigation of the river
Mississippi ; and that, from the year 1783 to this day,
they have been uniformly prevented by the Spanish king
from exercising that right. Your remonstrants have ob-
served with concern that the General Government, whose
duty it was to have preserved that right, have used no
effectual measures for its attainment ; that even their
tardy and ineffectual negotiations have been veiled with
the most mysterious secrecy ; that that secrecy is a vio-
lation of the political rights of the citizen, as it de-
clares that the people are unfit to be intrusted with
important facts relative to their rights, and that their
314 ADYANOE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
servants may retain from them the knowledge of these
facts.
" Eight years are surely sufficient for the discussion
of the most doubtful and disputable claims. The right
to the navigation of the Mississippi admits of neither
doubt nor dispute. Your remonstrants represent^, there-
fore, that the negotiations on that subject have been un-
necessarily lengthy, and they expect that it be demanded
categorically of the Spanish king whether he will ac-
knowledge the right of the citizens of the United States
to the free and uninterrupted navigation of the river
Mississippi, and cause all obstructions, interrujotions,
and hindrances to the exercise of that right in future to
be withdrawn and avoided ; that immediate answer
thereto be required, and that such answer be the final
period of all negotiations on that subject.
**Your remonstrants further represent that the en-
croachments of the Spaniards upon the territory of the
United States " (at Chickasaw Bluffs and elsewhere) ^'is a
striking and melancholy proof of the situation to which
our country will be reduced, if a tame policy should still
continue to direct its councils.
"Your remonstrants join their voices to those of their
fellow-citizens in the Atlantic States, calling for satisfac-
tion for the injuries and insults offered to America, and
they expect that such satisfaction shall extend to every
injury and insult done or offered to any part of America
by Great Britain and Spain ; and as the detention of the
posts, and the interruption of the navigation of the Mis-
CONCLUSION". 315
sissippi, are injuries and insults of the greatest atrocity
and of the longest duration, they require the most par-
ticular attention to these subjects.
"Your remonstrants declare that it is the duty of the
General Government to protect the frontiers, and that
the total want of protection which is now experienced by
every part of the Western frontier is a grievance of the
greatest magnitude, and demands immediate redress."*
There could be no mistaking the spirit which actuated
this address. The West had, in fact, reached the last
limit of peaceable endurance. It was tired of the inac-
tivity of the General Government, and worn out with the
smooth duplicity and secret animosity of the Spanish
officials. Everywhere the people were as dry tinder
ready for ignition, and it needed only the spark now
thrown among them by De la Chaise to produce a general
conflagration. This is shown by the crowds that rapidly
flocked to Clark's headquarters, and the armed bands
that everywhere gathered, even as far south as the south-
ern frontier of Georgia. A large majority of the Creek
warriors were also burnishing up their Spanish rifles to
take part in the extermination of their old friends the
Spaniards. It might have been accounted poetic justice
had they thus turned his own weapons against the per-
fidious Spanish Governor.
Carondelet was thoroughly alarmed. From paid spies
like Wilkinson and Sebastian he had early intelligence of
* "Knoxville Gazette" of June 19, 1794
316 ADYANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
the threatening attitude of the Western people, and
greatly he feared that the spring flood would bring an
irresistible force down the Mississippi, to sweep him and
his six thousand badly trained and disaffected militia
into the Gulf of Mexico. The time was short and the
danger imminent, but Oarondelet did not sleep at his
post. With all his remarkable energy he set to work to
strengthen the fortifications of New Orleans, and drill
his forces for the expected conflict. Then he attempted
the pacification of his Indian allies, and instructed
Gayoso to heal, at any cost, the breach between the
Creeks and the Chickasaws. They should not be al-
lowed to scalp one another, when every barbarian of
them all might soon be needed to protect the sacred
dominions of ''His Catholic Majesty" against the en-
croaching Americans. In this, as we have seen, Gayoso
succeeded, through the influence of Robertson and the
magnanimity of Piomingo.
But, not content with preparations for defense, Ca-
rondelet now sought to disarm the Western men by that
favorite Spanish weapon — diplomacy. De la Chaise had
succeeded in setting the Western prairies on fire, but he
would build a counter-fire, which should burn out the
Frenchmen, and leave the Spanish donricile unscorched.
All at once he laid aside the haughty tone in which he
had chided Robertson for sending a toy cannon to Pio-
mingo, and became wonderfully friendly and fraternal.
He opened the gates of the Mississippi, and invited the
planters to enter New Orleans, and accept specie for their
CONCLUSION. 317
bacon and tobacco ; and he renewed Wilkinson's mag-
nificent scheme of a Western republic in alliance with
Spain.
Money is a powerful persuader, and Carondelet knew
that some of the Kentuckians were open to that kind of
persuasion. But Miro had erred in dealing out his gold
in niggardly pensions ; Carondelet would offer enough
to buy up every public man in Tennessee and Kentucky.
One hundred thousand dollars down, and no questions
asked, were the terms which he offered through a special
messenger — one Thomas Power — whom he now dis-
patched to Gayoso. Such further sums of money, and
such arms and ammunition, as might be needed in case
of hostilities with the older States, were also to be forth-
coming.
Wilkinson was absent at Cincinnati, but Power put
himself in communication with the other traitors, who,
in 1788, would have sold the West for a mess of Spanish
pottage. They were afraid to meet the Spanish envoy
at New Madrid, but deputed Judge Sebastian to do so.
Gayoso did not feel at liberty to accede to all of Sebas-
tian's demands, and invited him to a personal conference
with Carondelet at New Orleans. He went ; but, while
he was there, other events occurred which rendered nuga-
tory this second attempt to swing the West into the arms
of Spain.
The call of George Eogers Clark for troops had no
sooner reached the ears of the Spanish minister, than he
remonstrated against it to the State Department, and
318 ADVAN^CE-GUAKD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
tliereuj^on Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State, wrote to
Governor Shelby, urging the exercise of his authority to
prevent the proposed hostile invasion of a friendly power.
To this request Shelby replied as follows: *^ There are
great doubts, even if they " (the agents of Genet) "do at-
tempt to carry their plan into execution (provided they
manage their business with prudence), whether there is
any legal authority to restrain or punish them, at least be-
fore they have actually accomplished it ; for, if it is lawful
for one citizen of this State to leave it, it is equally so for
any number of them to do so. It is also lawful for them to
carry with them any quantity of provisions, arms, and am-
munition ; and if the act is lawful in itself, there is noth-
ing in the particular intention with which it is done that
can possibly make it unlawful. But I know of no law
which inflicts a punishment on intention only, or a cri-
terion by which to decide what would be sufficient evi-
dence of that intention if it was a legal object of censure.
I shall, upon all occasions, be averse to the exercise of
any power with which I do not consider myself as being
clearly and explicitly invested ; much less would I as-
sume a power to exercise it against men whom I consider
as friends and brethren, in favor of a man whom I view
as an enemy and a tyrant." He added, however, that
whatever his opinions might be as a man, he should, as
a citizen of the Union, and the Governor of Kentucky,
hold himself at all times bound to obey the reasonable
commands of the President of the United States.
Shelby was too sensible a man to believe in his own
CONCLUSION. 319
logic. His arguments merely show that he favored the
movement to drive the Spaniards from Louisiana, and in
this he shared the sentiments of the best men in Ken-
tucky. They regarded the expedition as an easy means
of ridding the West of a pestiferous neighbor, without
embroiling the country in a war with Spain. At a sub-
sequent period Shelby stated that his object in writing
this letter was to draw from the Government a frank
statement of the real state of its negotiations with Spain.
It had this result. Washington, soon afterward, dis-
patched James Innis, a member of the State Department,
to Kentucky, with instructions to disclose to the Gov-
ernor all the steps which were being taken to secure the
navigation of the Mississippi. The whole subject was,
on November 13, 1794, laid by Shelby before the Legis-
lature of Kentucky, which fully approved of the course
he had taken. Then a proclamation was issued by the
President, forbidding the sailing of the expedition, and,
this being now actively seconded by Shelby, the lawless
attempt was abandoned.
However, this hostile demonstration, and the un-
friendly attitude of Shelby, had a powerful effect upon
the Spanish Cabinet. It aroused them to a sense of the
danger. With a hostile feeling so universal at the West,
and the Governor of Kentucky so open in avowing his
enmity to Spain, it was now clear to them that, if her
North American possessions were to be retained, the
border population must be conciliated by the opening of
the Mississippi. Accordingly, the Spanish Cabinet in-
320 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
vifced the United States Government to send an envoy
to Madrid, witli full powers to arrange all questions be-
tween the two countries. The result was the treaty of
October 27, 1795, which declared the Mississippi forever
free to American commerce.
But the Spaniards intended this treaty only as a tem-
porary expedient to ward off a pressing danger. They
continued their efforts to alienate the West from the
Union ; and as late as 1797, Carondelet again sent
Thomas Power into Kentucky with even more favorable
proposals to the traitors of 1788. The document which
the Spanish governor addressed to the Kentucky gentle-
men, is a curious illustration of what the Spaniards of
that day entitled '' diplomacy." One of its paragraphs
is worth copying. In it Carondelet says :
"The important and unexpected events that have
taken place in Europe since the ratification of the treaty
concluded on the 27th of October, 1795, between his
Catholic Majesty and the United States of America, hav-
ing convulsed the general system of politics in that
quarter of the globe, and wherever its influence is ex-
tended, causing a collision of interests between nations
formerly living in the most perfect union and harmony,
and directing the political views of some states toward
objects the most remote from their former pursuits ; but
none being so completely unhinged and disjointed as the
Cabinet of Spain, it may be confidently asserted, without
incurring the reproach of presumption, that his Catholic
Majesty will not carry the above-mentioned treaty into
CONCLUSION". 321
execution ; nevertheless, the thorough knowledge I have
of the disposition of the Spanish Government justifies
me in saying that, so far from its being his Majesty's wish
to exclude the inhabitants of this Western country from
the free navigation of the Mississippi, or withhold from
them any of the benefits stipulated for them by the treaty,
it is positively his intention, as soon as they shall put it
in his power to treat with them, by declaring them-
selves independent of the Federal Government and estab-
lishing one of their own, to grant them privileges far
more extensive, give them a decided preference over the
Atlantic States in his commercial connections with them,
and place them in a situation infinitely more advanta-
geous, in every point of view, than that in ivhich they
would find themselves were the treaty to he carried into
effect.''
This was of the seed which Wilkinson had planted,
but it bore no fruit to the advantage of Spain or to the
disadvantage of the Union. That it did not was due
to Shelby and to the many good men and true who,
ten years before, had rallied to his side to preserve the
integrity of the country. Favorable circumstances
thwarted the intended bad faith of the Spaniards, and
the navigation of the Mississippi was never again a sub-
ject of serious concern to the border settlements.
During the few months that preceded and that fol-
lowed the signing of the Spanish treaty, several events
occurred which had a more or less direct bearing upon
322 ADYANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
the peace and prosperity of the little colony along the
Cumberland. Among these events were the consolida-
tion of a firm central goYernment by the energy and wis-
dom of Washington ; Wayne's treaty with the Indians,
and the surrender of the Northwestern posts by the Brit-
ish, which secured peace with the Northern tribes ; and
the admission of Tennessee as a State of the Union and
the election of John Sevier as its first Governor, which
led to the burying of the hatchet by the warlike South-
ern nations. The election of Sevier was of vital impor-
tance to Eobertson's colony, for it held harmless his old
enemies the Creeks and Cherokees till after the '^good
old Governor" went finally out of office in 1810. ^^His
name is a terror to the savages" ; "worth more to us than
any single regiment of men," said Governor Blount and
Secretary Smith in their dispatches to the War Depart-
ment* while yet Sevier was subject to the orders of supe-
riors. But the moment the Indians knew that Sevier
was at the head of a population of a hundred thousand,
and free to act upon his own judgment, they understood
that any further indulgence in midnight rapine and
butchery would be the signal for their own extermina-
tion. The Great Eagle of the pale-faces was a faithful
friend but an irresistible enemy. They wisely preferred
his friendship to his enmity, and the consequence was
that white men and red dwelt together in unity, and
universal peace reigned along the border.
* See " American State Papers," vol. v, pp. 433, 622.
CONCLUSION 323
In this reign of peace the Cumberland colony pros-
pered, and prospered to an extent that has had no paral-
lel in this country — not even in Kentucky. In both war
and peace its career was to be the most unique in Ameri-
can history. During fifteen years of the bloodiest conflict
its heroic pioneers withstood and finally conquered twenty
times their number of savage enemies, and then they
turned their giant energies to the subjugation of the wil-
derness. Out of the trackless forest they hewed thriving
towns, beautiful villages, and populous cities, which in
ten years held 25,000 people, in fifty years 490,424, and
to-day contain more than one half the population of the
great State of Tennessee. And the initial impulse which
produced all these marvelous results proceeded from that
one man — James Robertson.
After resigning from the United States Army, Eob-
ertson never held any official position except that of
agent for the Choctaws and Chickasaws. This office he
retained because of his fatherly feeling for those Indians
who had stood by him through all the darkest days of
the Cumberland colony. All other office he persistently
refused. In 1810, when Sevier, after serving twelve
years as Governor, declined any further elections, the
position was offered to Robertson, but he simply replied,
" The trade of political governing does not suit my
genius as well as retirement."' He was indifferent to
official honors, and had a feeling not unlike contempt
for the men who sought political station on account of
its emoluments. " If any one out here," he once said,
15.
324 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
"desires office for the sake of pay, he ought to die of
starvation."
But, though during the remaining nineteen years of
his life merely a private citizen, Robertson was no less
the patriarch of the rapidly growing settlements. On
all important occasions his counsel was sought, and Se-
vier, throughout his long service as Governor, constantly
consulted him on the affairs of the Commonwealth.
At the beginning of their career these two men had
been as hand and brain to one another, and so they
continued to be till the end. During forty-two years,
alike when struggling desperately for a mere right to
exist, and when building together with untried hands a
great commonwealth, they stood shoulder to shoulder,
and never in all that time did so much as a momentary
cloud shadow their relations. It is hard to believe that
a friendship so devoted and long-continued could have
existed between them had they not been men of unself-
ish ends, with a single thought for the good of their
country.
To the end of his days the relations of Robertson to
the Choctaws and Chickasaws were of a peculiar char-
acter. The highest and the lowest among these Indians
regarded him as their friend and father. Their trust in
him was unbounded. After a few years Piomingo was
called to be a great chief in the upper hunting-grounds,
and was succeeded by his son Chin-nubbe, and at the
same time John Pitchlyn, of Oak-tibbe-ha, a renowned
warrior, was head king of the Choctaws ; but the influ-
CONCLUSIOJS-. 325
ence of neither of these kings was so potent in their
tribes as that of Robertson. lie never went among them
without being received with a degree of barbaric pomp
that would have been grotesque but for the universal
and heart-felt enthusiasm that attended it. At one time
he resigned the agency, but was forced to resume it by
the general clamor of the Indians, and soon afterward he
visited the Chickasaw country to hold the customary
*' talks." The chief, George Colbert, addressed him a
letter on this occasion, which evinces the esteem with
which he was regarded. He said :
"My Old Frieis^d akd Father: I am overjoyed
with the word you send that you are to be the guide of
our nation, as you have been the life of this nation ;
and every chief of the Chickasaws, I make no doubt,
will feel the same as I do. I hope everything will
prove satisfactory in every council. When you go by
my house, I will take my horse and ride to the king's
house and the agency with you."
In 1806-07 came an alarm of war in consequence of
the depredations of the Spaniards and English on Ameri-
can commerce, and Robertson at once organized a corps
of veterans, chiefly Revolutionary soldiers, whom he
called "Silver-Grays," and tendered their services to
Andrew Jackson, who was then major-general of the
Tennessee militia. The war-cloud passed away, and
their services not being needed, they were after a while
326 ADVANCE-GUAKD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
disbanded. In the order dismissing his troops Jackson
made the following reference to this '' Silver Gray " corps :
*^When the insolence or vanity of the Spanish Govern-
ment shall dare to repeat their insults on our flag, or
shall dare to violate the sacred obligations of the good
faith of treaties ; or should the disorganizing traitor at-
tempt the dismemberment of our country, or criminal
breach of our laws, let me ask what will be the effect of
the example given by a tender of service made by such
men as compose the InvinciUe Grays, commanded, too,
by the father of our infant State, General James Robert-
son?''
In 1811 Tecumseh made his great attempt to com-
bine all the Northern and Southern Indians in a war
against the United States. He had already seduced the
Creeks, and it was feared that the war spirit would spread
among the Choctaws and Chickasaws. In these circum-
stances the Government requested Kobertson to make his
residence for the time being among those tribes, and en-
deavor to hold them to their allegiance. He was in his
seventieth year, and subject to violent attacks of neural-
gia, which had undermined his general health and greatly
debilitated his system, but he did not hesitate a moment
to leave a luxurious home, and, in the service of his
country, to encounter again the hardships of the wilder-
ness. To the friends and neighbors who at his setting
out gathered about him to bid him '^ God-speed " on his
journey, he said: ^'1 know I am getting to be an old
man. I can not delude myself with the idea that I am
CONCLUSION. 327
young, or with the hope that in this life my days and
being will turn backward, and carry me from age through
reversed stages down to childhood again. I may not do
all the good I design. My heart is warm and full, though
my limbs are not so very supple. As some of you have
said, I may not live to return and settle down again
quietly at home. Older men than I have found the post
of duty away from their pleasant firesides, and where
duty calls there is home."
He not only held the Choctaws and Chickasaws to
their allegiance, but he enlisted large numbers of them in
the United States Army, and built the two nations into
a solid wall between the Creeks and the hostile Northern
Indians. His constant presence among the Indians being
indispensable, he sent for his wife to bear him company,
asking her to bring at the same time a feather-bed and
some bedding. In his letter to her he said: "Should
you come, I will give you the very best chance for rest
and sleep which the bed will afford, 'provided always'
that you allow me to retain a part of the same."
His wife found him much exhausted by overwork,
and debilitated by his neuralgic disease and the infirmi-
ties natural to his seventy-two years. Early in August,
1814, he began to fail rapidly. He had not strength
to mount a horse, and could walk about only with great
difficulty. Soon the least noise grew painful to him,
sharp pains shot through his head, and his brain seemed
burning up with a constant fire ; then his breathing be-
came heavy and distressing, and on the morning of Sep-
328 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
tember first he sank into a prolonged sleep, from which
he awoke only to find himself in that grand company of
great and good men who had, like him, given their lives
for their country and Christian civilization. He was a
true man, a pnre patriot, a genuine Christian hero ; and
when we come to measure greatness by the New Testa-
ment standard of unswerving fidelity to duty and un-
selfish devotion to the good of our fellow-men, it will
be admitted that there have been few greater men in
American history than James Robektsok.
APPEI^DIX A.
The statement in the text I had from Dr. J. G. M.
Ramsey, who had received it in detail from John Sevier
himself, with whom he was on terms of the closest in-
timacy from early childhood till he was of the age of
eighteen, when Sevier died. Dr. Ramsey informed me
that Sevier was very fond of young people, and that it
was his custom in his old age to gather them about him
and tell to them the story of his campaigns by the hour
together. It was thus that Ramsey imbibed that fond-
ness for pioneer history which bore fruit in his '' Annals
of Tennessee."
The first letter which Sevier addressed to Don Gar-
doqui was dated about June 1, 1788 ; a second was writ-
ten by him on July 18th, and two others on September
12th following. Of the first two letters no trace is to be
found among the papers of Gardoqui ; the last two have
been very recently discovered in the Spanish archives, and
been copied for John Mason Brown, Esq., of Louisville
(great-grandson of John Brown, first United States Sena-
tor from Kentucky), who has very courteously furnished
them to me for publication in this volume. For the ap-
pended translation of these letters I am indebted to the
kindness of that accomplished Spanish scholar, Prof. W.
330 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
I. Knapp, of Yale University, who prefaces it as fol-
lows :
"The so-called Spanish original is almost unintelligi-
ble by the ignorance of the copyist, and was at first poorly
written. Correcting the text at almost every word, and
supplying what is omitted, the translation would be some-
thing as follows " :
Franklin, September 12, 1788.
Sir : Since my last of July 18 th, I have been particu-
larly happy to find, on consulting with the leading sub-
jects (sugetos for siiMitos) of this country, that they are
equally disposed and favorable as I am toward the pro-
posals and assurances that you offer.
You may rest assured that the sincere hopes and views
cherished by this people, respecting the future [the word
unintelligiUe] and concession for trade with you, are very
decided, and that we are unanimously resolved on the
same.
The people of this country have truly come to under-
stand on what part of the world and on what nation their
prospective happiness and security depend, and are quick
to see that their interests and prosperity wholly consist
in the protection and liberality of your government. We
must expect by our position and circumstances that we
shall be led in a most efficacious way to look for the con-
tinued security and prosperity of your government in
America, and, being the first to apply to your protection
and liberality on this side of the Apalache Mountains, we
are encouraged to cherish the liveliest hope that all the
aid may be furnished us by him who can so effectually
supply it, and the protection be granted which is asked
for in this our appeal.
You are acquainted with our country, the situation
and embarrassments in which we live with respect to our
APPENDIX A. 331
mother-State, which makes use of every stratagem to pre-
vent the advance and prosperity of this country. Not-
withstanding we possess some of the most fertile lands
on the continent, and every facility for exports, still we
are not able to dispose of a single article produced (which
might be made almost unlimited) without authority to
make use of our rivers leading to the seaboard (puertos
de ahajo).
In view of these difficulties, you can easily infer the
great scarcity of specie that exists in tliis country, of
which there is so little among us. Nothing else is want-
ing to secure our mutual interest but a moderate [sup-
ply ?] of this article (the amount of which I leave to your
prudent judgment) and of other military auxiliaries
which you may consider necessary and expedient [to sup-
ply us with]. All that is needed to secure what we desire
will not exceed a few thousands of pounds. We are en-
couraged more to make this [request r] by the knowledge
you possess that we can pay promptly for what you may
furnish us in the products of this country at the sea-
board. I hope that the payment may be made on the
easiest terms possible, and that the guarantees and re-
ceipts of my son Diego Sevier (who is secretary) will
hold us both— myself as well as the State of Franklin —
until they are paid and fully satisfied. I do not doubt
that the aid asked for will be considered as a trifle taken
from your chests (or treasury), especially if the important
object is considered for which it is to be used, and since
we can reimburse so soon the sum advanced, and for
which we shall remain under lasting obligations of grati-
tude and friendship.
We are determined, as far as possible, that you [unin-
teUigible], and when you see the advantages that will cer-
tainly accrue from this grant, you i^ill see that our inter-
332 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
ests flow along the same channel, and will be lasting and
inseparable. We are interested in making the most rapid
and effective preparations for defense. If any interrup-
tion in our relations [with Spain ?] should occur, we must
be ready in time, the reasons for which are necessarily
quite obvious. Therefore, no more need be said on the
subject, and I beg you will let me know from time to
time, whenever an opportunity offers and circumstances
require. I leave to your discretion any other more availa-
ble mode of communication that may present itself, and
for the remaining matters I refer you to my son Diego
(James), who is a person competent to give all information
touching the Western country.
Before I conclude, it may be necessary to state that
there will be no more favorable opportunity than the
present to put the plan in action, as North Carolina has
rejected the Constitution, and a considerable time will
elapse before she comes to be a member of the Union, if
ever. I must beg you the favor to provide Diego with
what may be thought useful for us. If a passport could
be secured, it would be of great advantage for this coun-
try, because it is probable that some of us may find it
expedient to go down to the Spanish seaports, and, if
produce is permitted to be sent from this region, it would
be a matter of great importance to us.
I have the honor to be, sir, with great esteem and
consideration, your most obedient servant,
(Signed) Johk Sevier.
To Don Diego de Gardoqui, Spanish Minister.
APPENDIX A. 333
No. 2.
Franklin, September 12, 17S8.
Sir : Allow me to inform you that for the past few
months the people of this country have been at war with
the Cherokee nation of Indians, and have [unintelligible^
in a great measure [unintelligible']. It is probable that
this nation (the Cherokees) will apply to the Creeks,
Choctaws, and Chickasaws, to form an alhanee for the
purpose of carrying on the war still further, in case they
can effect it. I trust that we shall not be considered
troublesome and impertinent in requesting in our behalf
the intervention of the Minister with reference to those
tribes, and that he inform them that the Cherokees have
continued the war with all liberty, frequently committing
murders and other acts of hostility against citizens of this
country, and that if the inhabitants thereof should form
new settlements on the Tennessee or near the banks of
the river [ivliat follows is unintelligible because badly
copied]. That his Catholic Majesty disposed (?) to favor
them, reconciling {conciliating) their minds and maintain-
ing peace with all the tribes of Indians found under the
protection and control of Spain.
You can assure those tribes of Indians that the peo-
ple of this country are firmly resolved to live in peace
with them, and never had the thought of passing into
their territory or in any way [to disturb them ?].
I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient and
humble servant,
(Signed) John Sevier.
Sr. D. Diego de Gardoqui, Minister of Spain.
It is probable that the two letters were written in
Spanish by Sevier himself, and hence are not models of lin-
334 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
gual correctness. The concluding paragraph of the first
is quoted by Gayarre as evidence that there was an under-
standing between Sevier and Gardoqui that the State of
Franklin should be swung into the arms of Spain. The
letter, as a whole, will bear no such construction. It
simply shows that Sevier had concluded a commercial
transaction with the Spanish minister — arranged for sup-
plies which he sorely needed — merely on his promise to
pay for them at a future time, and to live in friendly re-
lations with the Spaniards. At this period Sevier was a
penniless man and an outlaw, and fighting, with only a
handful of men, to protect the French Broad settlers
against the whole Cherokee nation. He was short of
ammunition, and cut off from further supplies by the
unfriendly action of North Carolina, which had aban-
doned the settlers to destruction. He could obtain no
supplies except from Spain, and Spain had armed and
incited to war the very savages whom he was fighting.
Without ammunicion, he was at the mercy of the Chero-
kees, and that he had the address to obtain it from the
very nation that was arming and inciting his enemies, is
most extraordinary. As a feat in diplomacy it is as re-
markable as some of Sevier's astonishing military achieve-
ments.
APPENDIX B.
Notes by Hon. Randall M. Ewing, of Tennessee.
Page 4. — " The place is heautiful for situafioti.'*^ It
is a peculiarity of the geological formation of Middle
Tennessee that the entire surface seems to be broken into
deep, bowl-like alluvial basins, surrounded on all sides by
rims of hills, which, as soon as crossed, bring us into
other of these bowl-like valleys. lu one of these Nash-
ville is situated.
Page 7. — '^ Thewild-turheys.''^ My grand father, Will
iam Ewing, often told me that, for the first year after the
settlers landed at the French Lick, the breast of the wild-
turkey was used as bread, and bear-meat for bacon.
They made their salt in small quantities by evaporating
the water of the spring known as the French Lick.
Bear-meat was regularly cured, salted, and smoked, and
treated in every respect as bacon.
Page 20. — " Converting the Bluff into an island."
Literally so : the place where the fort was located is now
often entirely surrounded by water.
Page 25. — '^ The scout Castleman.^' There were two
brothers — Andrew and Abraham — both famous scouts.
Andrew was my great-uncle.
336 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
Page 29. — "He ivas Miles Standish, without Ms pu-
rita7iis7n." If not a Puritan, Robertson was next-door
neighbor to one — to wit, a Presbyterian.
Page 43. — "David Hood was a light-hearted young
fellow.^'' I haA^e heard my grandfather relate this story
more than once : The process devised by these men to
cause the skin to grow again upon the scalped head in-
volved an experience which showed that the young man
must have had ten lives. To produce a new covering,
the skull was bored through in several places, by a gim-
let invented for the purpose by a blacksmith, whose name
I do not recall.
Page 45. — " Their companions, whose 7iames have not
come down to us.''' The names of some of these scouts I
can give, to wit : Abraham and Andrew Castleman,
William Ewing, and Wiley, or John Roy ; also John and
Andrew Buchanan, already mentioned. Roy was a great
tobacco-chewer, and the saliva was constantly running
from the corners of his mouth. Abe Castleman prophe-
sied that, if Roy were ever shot, it would be in the mouth,
and this was singularly fulfilled. Roy and Castleman be-
ing out on a scout, Roy was shot through the cheeks
while stooping to drink at a spring, which caused his
mouth to leak worse than ever. To this I can testify, for
he lived to a great age.
Page 63. — " Court of Common Pleas and Quarter
•Sessions.^' Of this court my great-grandfather, Andrew
Ewing — who Putnam, in his history, says was the right
arm and faithful and wise counselor of General Robertson
— was the first clerk ; and, descending from father to son,
the office remained in the family until about 1848.
Page 64. — "Furnished with lenches.'''' The first
judge, I have heard, sat upon an elevated three-leg-
ged stool, without any back. This stool was long pre-
^ APPENDIX B. 337
served, and in use by the Clerk of the Circuit Court in his
office.
Page 64. — '' Roofs of claphoards.^^ These clapboards
were not nailed on, but weighted down with heavy beams,
or logs laid on the ends of the boards.
Page 68. — ^^ One dollar per gallon.'''' A law was also
enacted, fixing the charges of tavern or inn-keepers. If
rum floated melted tallow, they could charge only six-
pence the fluid pint ; if the tallow sank to the bottom,
they could exact eightpence.
Page 70. — " Three axes and fioo coiv-beUs." My grand-
father gave three hundred and twenty acres for a plow-
horse, and claimed to the last day of his life that it was
the best trade he ever made. The land was six miles south
of Nashville. Another of my ancestors bouglit twenty-
four hundred aCres with a buffalo-cow and a calf.
Page 71. — ^' Those pioneer preachers.''^ Among the
pioneer divines is one whose name ought to be rescued
from the oblivion with which it is threatened. lie was
the intimate friend of General Jackson, and I have my-
self heard "Old Hickory " say that he was one of the
most eloquent men he had ever heard speak or preach in
his life. This man was the Rev. Gideon Blackburn, an
ancestor of Governor Blackburn, of Kentucky. He was
the first President of the Williamson County Academy.
Page 73. — '^ A loagon-road from Clinch River to
Nashville.'' One of the gaps in the mountains through
which this road passed is still known as the '* Cumber-
land Gap," and it figured largely as a strategic position
in our late civil war. It was the Gibraltar that separated
Tennessee and Kentucky from southwest Virginia.
Page 182. — '' The correspondence hetiuecn Robertson
and McGillivray.'' My excellent old friend A. W. Put-
nam, the historian, thought that these papers, as well as
338 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
many other Taluable — or rather invaluable — ones, could
be found among the papers of Andrew Ewing, my ances-
tor, in whose handwriting most of General Robertson's
state papers were written. I have made repeated efforts
to trace and get possession of this rich mine of unwrit-
ten history, thinking that I might be able to aid you in
your (then prospective) book. I fear that the papers
have been irretrievably lost.
Page 188. — " A?i ortliography equally as originaV^
General Jackson sent into Nashville on one occasion for
some half-hose for himself, and wrote to the storekeeper
to send '* half a dozen pairs of 'sox.'" The merchant
laughed at the spelling, and spoke of it so that it came
to General Jackson's ears. The next time Jackson met
the merchant, he said to him, '* If s-o-x doesn't spell
socks, what in the devil does it spell ?"
Page 221. — '^ Tlie first alarm was given hy the friglit-
ened cattle.'''^ It was a singular fact, of which I have
heard my grandfather often speak, that the horses and
cattle of the settlers frequently gave the first warning of
the approach of the red-men. He thought they had
learned the peculiar odor of the war-paint.
Page 221. — "Buchanan's Station." I saw the old
block-house at Kuchanan's Station before it was pulled
down. It was two stories high, the upper story extend-
ing over the sides of the lower about four feet, with port-
holes commanding the entrance.
Page 222. — " Mrs. Buchanan." My grandfather was
in this fight, and he has frequently told me that Mrs.
Sally Buchanan molded bullets on that occasion till after
midnight, and at the break of day on the following morn-
ing gave birth to a son. That son — Moses Buchanan —
died only last year in Franklin, Tennessee.
II:TDEX
Alleghanies, character of the first
settlers west of, and importance
of the work they did in the Rev-
olution, and subsequently, 1,2;
emigration of three hundred and
eighty from Watauga to the
present site of Nashville in 1780,
3 ; they form a military organi-
zation and a civil government,
5, 11.
Appeal of the Territorial Legisla-
ture to Congress, 114.
Aranda, Count of, prime minister
of Spain, prophetic declaration
of, 78-80.
Backwoods household, description
of a, 202.
Bledsoe, Anthony, settles at Castal-
ian Springs, 61 ; elected to the Gen-
eral Assembly, 63; his letter to Se-
vier, 109; killed by the Indians,
121 ; Robertson's opinion of him,
122 ; his widow pursued, and
two sons killed, by the Creeks,
247.
Bledsoe, Isaac, accompanies Rob-
ertson to the Cumberland, 6;
goes with him to Kentucky for
ammunition, 21 ; his remark on
hearing of King's ^lountain bat-
tle, 22 ; heroic determination to
hold the post, 60 ; killed by the
Creeks, 247.
Blount, William, appointed Gov-
ernor by Washington, 190; his
description of the Cumberland
region, 194 ; urges measures for
the protection of the settlers, 275;
adopts Robertson's suggestions,
297; declines responsibility for
arming the Chickasaws, 3(>i.
Boone, Daniel, supplies powder and
lead to Robertson, 22.
Bounty system of North Carolina,
61.
Brown, Joseph, goes to the rescue
of Buchanan's Station, 225 ;
taken captive by the Indians,
23 1 ; his experiences among them,
232-238 ; is liberated by Sevier,
240 ; removes to near Nashville,
242 ; enlists under Rains, 243 ;
wounded by the Indians, 255 ;
340 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
explores a route to Xick-a-Jack,
280 ; guides the Chickamauga ex-
pedition, 282 ; encounters the
old Frenchwoman, 284.
Buchanan's Station, five men killed
in erecting, 62 ; heroic repulse of
700 Indians at, 221-225.
Burial, first, at Nashville, 1 6.
Carondelet, Baron de, succeeds Miro
as Governor of Louisiana, 260 ;
his energetic character, 261 ; his
letter to Robertson, 268 ; at-
tempts to lure Kentucky from
the Union, 316.
Carey, James, reports hostile feel-
ing of Indians, 275.
Castleman, Abraham, his services
and character as a scout, 46-48 ;
at defense of Buchanan's Station,
221 ; daring raid into the Chicka-
mauga country, 247-249.
Chcrokees, make war upon Robert-
son, 34 ; held in check by Sevier,
85 ; attack Buchanan's Station,
221.
Chickasaws, war with, 23 ; their
subsequent friendship for Rob-
ertson, 28.
Chickasaw Bluff (Memphis) taken
possession of and fortified by the
Spaniards, 299.
Chia-chatt-alla, takes Joseph Brown
prisoner, 231 ; his intrepid death,
223.
Chickamaugas, their desperate and
lawless character, 227, 228 ; are
subdued by Robertson, 279-
285.
Choctaws, in alliance with Piomin-
go, and friendly to Robertson,
265.
Clark, George Rogers, abandons
Fort Jefferson to aid Robertson,
22 ; takes prisoner the British
Governor of Detroit, 39.
Clark, Daniel, his account of Wil-
kinson's visit to New Orleans,
147 ; his remarks to James Madi-
son, 259.
Clothing of first settlers, 51.
Congress, fails to act on petition
for aid, 277 ; approves of Rob-
ertson's measures, 292.
Cold water, town, 87, 91 ; expedi-
tion, 91-103.
Colbert, George, Chickasaw chief,
asks aid of Robertson, 303 ; de-
fends Log Town, 304 ; granted
pay by Congress for volunteers,
305.
Convention, Kentucky, of July 28,
1788, defeats Wilkinson's trea-
son, 174.
Court, established by Robertson,
• some of its enactments, 66-69.
Craig, Captain, reports hostile coa-
htion of Indian tribes, 211.
Craighead, Rev. Thomas B., settles
at Nashville, 71.
Creek Indians, number six thousand
warriors, 84; form treaty with
Spaniards for the extermination
of the settlers, 84 ; constant hos-
tility of, 117; treaty with, 192.
Cumberland River, frozen in 1780, 4.
Currency of Robertson, 69.
Donelson, John, in command of the
emigrants who made the perilous
INDEX.
341
voyage down the Holston and
Tennessee, 3, 8 ; elected lieuten-
ant-colonel, 5 ; father-in-law to
Andrew Jackson, 7 ; is killed in
the forest.
Edmeston, John, resolves to invade
the Chickamaugas, 220.
Evans, Major Natbaniel, in com-
mand of troops tor protection of
tlie Cumberland colony, 110; dis-
patched by Sevier to warn Shelby
of Wilkinson's treason, 173.
Ewing, Andrew, envoy sent by Rob-
ertson to McGillivray, 118; is
clerk of the court, 118 ;> his pa-
triotic character, 185 (note).
Fourth of July celebrated at Nash-
ville, 189.
Freeland's Station attacked, 26,
27.
French Lick (Nashville) in 1780,
described, 45.
Fruitless overtures to Spain, 205.
Gamble^ James, a noted fiddler, 203.
Gayoso, Don de Lamos, Spanish
commandant at Natchez, his char-
acter and first interview with Wil-
kinson, 145-147; petition from
Cherokees to him, 262 ; accuses
the Americans of trespassing on
Indian lands, 300; counsels the
Chickasaws to make peace with
the Creeks, 307.
Godoy. Don Manuel, Spanish prime
minister, his neglect of Washing-
ton's overtures, 206-208 ; his
blundering policy, 208.
Hamilton, Henry, British Governor
of Detroit, his plan to extermi-
nate the Western settlers, 9, 10 ;
made prisoner, and lodged in
jail, 10.
Hall, William, defends Castalian
Springs at death of Anthony
Bledsoe, 121 ; heroic conduct at
Greenfield Station, 248-250.
Hay, Joseph, the first settler killed
at Nashville, 15.
Hayes, Colonel Robert, in command
of the boat expedition against
the Chickamaugas, 93.
Hayes, " Grandma," her heroic de-
fense of her dwelling, 253.
Haywood the historian's opinion of
Robertson, 288, 301.
Hood, David, his remarkable expe-
rience, 45.
Jackson, Andrew, settles at Nash-
ville, 188; first fight with In-
dians, 87 ; first appearance on
the floor of Congress, 305.
Jefferson, Thomas, his manly atti-
tude toward Spain, 209.
Kilpatrick, Colonel, killed and be-
headed by the Creeks, 217.
Lucas, Major Robert, killed at
Freeland's Station, 27.
Mason boys, heroic exploit of, 42.
Mansker, Colonel Casper, erects a
station, 15 ; an efficient scout, 48 ;
goes to the aid of Piomingo, 303.
Marshall, Thomas, aids Shelby to
crush Wilkinson's treason, 176 j
3tl:2 ADVANCE-GUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
reports affairs to Washington,
200; advises Wilkinson's ap-
pointment in the army, 200,
McGillivray, Alexander, chief of
the Creeks, an account of him,
80-85 ; his treaty with the United
States, 191 ; his death, 260.
Miro, Don Estevan, his transactions
with Wilkinson, 145-180.
Mississippi River opened to com-
merce by Wilkinson, 161 ; by
treaty with Spain, 320.
Nashville, first settlement of, 4-8 ;
attack on fort at, 34-38 ; appear-
ance in 1784, 75.
Nick-a-Jack, town of, destroyed,
283.
Oconostota, plans of, 39 ; forewarns
Boone of hostility from the In-
dians, 40.
Primitive churches described, 72.
Pickering, Secretary of War, ina-
biUty to understand the needs of
the Western settlers, 297.
Piomingo, his friendship for Rob-
ertson, 85 ; letters to him, 91,
264, 265; his reported death,
273 ; joins Wayne's army, 294 ;
defeats the Creeks, 309.
Peyton, John, adventure of, 89.
Rains, John, the Joab of the colo-
ny, 67 ; heroic resolve to " fight
it out here," 55 ; on the Cold-
water expedition, 101 ; goes to
the rescue of Buchanan's Station,
224 ; at the destruction of Nick-
a-jack, 280.
Robertson, James, the volume, pas-
sim.
Rogan, Hugh, his great physical (En-
durance, 103 ; his intrepid ex-
ploit, 121.
Robertson, Jonathan, his heroic ex-
ploits, 219, 250.
Sevier, John, sends aid to Robert-
son, 111; expresses information
to Shelby which defeats Wilkin-
son's treason, 171.
Sevier, Valentine, three sons of,
killed by the Creeks, 213, 214;
his station attacked, 295.
Scolacutta (Hanging-Maw), attacks
Robertson, 87 ; friendly to the
whites, 289.
Sebastian, Judge Benjamin, a pen-
sioned traitor, 199.
Scouts, their important services, 51.
Shawnees, hostile to Robertson,
225, 273.
Shelby, Isaac, saves Kentucky to
the Union, 169; his action as
Governor, 318.
Shelby, Evan, his death, 246.
Sleet, a remarkable, 32, 33.
Smith, Brigadier - General Daniel,
makes overtures to McGillivray,
183; is Secretary to the Terri-
tory, 322 ; opinion of Sevier, 322.
Snake-bite, a bad, 204.
Tammany Society, its reception of
McGillivray, 191.
*' Taking a horn," origin of the
phrase, 69.
Tories, Robertson's reception of,
69.
INDEX.
343
Ugulayacabe, a traitor to Piomingo,
264, 272; returns to his allegi-
ance, 293.
Washington, George, his action, 190,
278.
Wilkinson, James, his early career,
138-143; his treason, 145, 181;
enters the United States Army,
200.
Wedding, first, at Nashville, 18.
THE EI^D.
NEW CH APTERS IN AMERICAN HISTORY.
THE
REAR-GUARD OF THE REVOLUTION.
WiTU PORTBAIT OF JoHN SeVIEK, A>D MaP.
JOHN SEVIER
AS A COMMONWEALTH-BUILDER.
A Sequel to " The Rear-Guard of the Revolution."
By JAMES R. GILMORE
(Edmlxd Kibkej.
Each work i2mo, cloth Price, $1.50,
These volames are narratives of the adventures of the pioneer? that first
cro«?efi the Alleghanies and settled in what ie now Tennessee, under the leader-
ship of two remarkable men, James Kobertpon and John Sevier. Sevier'is career
was certainly remarkable, ae much so as that of Daniel Boone. The title of the
first book is derived from the fact that a body of hardy volunteers, under the
leadership of Sevier, crossed the mountains to nph<.ld the patriotic causf. and by
their timely arrival secured the defeat of the British army at King's Mountain.
From a paper adopted by the. Tennessee HistCfrical Society.
"Mr. Edmund Kirke sojourned for several years in Western North Carolina
and in East Tennessee, and, being fascinated witli our previous history, he
became diliirent in the collection of lacte, which are here embodied in a most
interesting volume. The matter does not conbist of mere sketches or lecitals,
but relates a hisi.iry, and in a style elegant in expression and suited to the dig-
nity of the subject.""'
From John Sevier, of Tennessee, a great-grandson of Governor Sevier.
" Your book came to me by accident I read it. and found the facts all related
just as they have been told to me bv father and t:randiaiher. but clothed in a
style and language that must make the work as entertaining as a romance."
Frrni Hon. John M. Lea, Prendent of the Tennessee Historical Society,
Xashville.
"The 'Rear-Guard' hns given a fresh interest in the name of Governor
Sevier, and, in common with all the people of Teiinpssee. we are under obliga-
tions to you for the laithful and fascinating nsanuer in which you have related
oar pioneer history."
" Its episoths are as fascinating as the legends of the Scottish TTighlandB,
or middle-a_'e chivalry; and it is speciallv a desirable book for boys, though
thoui^htfui men will finri its padres full of fads and hints as to the building up of
great commonwealths.'" — 7%« Eclectic Magazine.
''The story of a patriot like John Sevier, tdd as woll as Mr. Gilmore tells it,
must make the ideals of the vouns citizen— and the o!d one. too. for that matter
— hiirherand purer ; snch hooks show that the foreim idea of gentlettanhood is
not, after all. the only true \At2i.'"—T?ie North American Beruw.
"John Sevier was a man with as strorg and marked a persorality as Mr.
Gilmore could have desired. He was commanding, oriiinal. and pictnr^-t-^que.
As such Mr. Gilmore paints him. and. in doing so, puts into his book ore of the
prime attractions of romance, the attraction of a powerful and marked per-
RonaAity:'—T?ie New York Independent.
P. APPLETON & CO., PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK.
D. APPLETON & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS.
HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES,
from the Revolution to the Civil War. By John Bach McMaster.
To be completed in five volumes. Vols. I and II, 8vo, cloth, gilt
top, $2.50 each.
Scope op the Work.— /n the course of this narrative much is written of wars,
conspiracies, and rebellions ; of Presiderds, of Congresses, of embassies, of treaties,
of the amlition of -political leaders, and of the rise of great parties in the nation.
Yet the history of the people is the chief theme. At evei-y stage of the splendid
progress which separates the America of Washington and Adams from the Amer-
ica in which we live, it has been the author^s purpose to describe the dress, the
occupations, the amusements, the literary canons of the times ; to note the changes
of manners and morals ; to trace the growth of that humane spirit which abol-
ished punishment for debt, and reformed the discipline of prisons and of jails ; to
recount the manifold improvements which, in a thousand ways, have multiplied
the conveniences of life and ministered to the happiness qfaur race; to describe the
rise and progress of that long series of mechanical inventions and discoveries which
is now the admiration of the world, and our just pride and boast ; to tell how,
under the benign influence of liberty and peace, there sprang up, in the ccmrse of a
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" To recount the marvelous progress of the American people, to describe
their life, thinr literature, their occupations, their amusements, is Mr. McMaster's
object. His theme is an important one, and we conirratulate him on his success.
It has rarely been our province to notice a book with so many excellences and
80 few defects."— xVew York Herald.
" Mr. McMaster at once shows his gi-a»p of the various themes and his special
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New lark Journal of Commerce.
"I have had to read a good deal of history in my day, but I find so much
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"Mr. McMaster's success as a writer seems to us distinct and decisive. In
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taining quality of which is conspicuous beyond that of any work of its kind."—
Boston Gazette.
New York : D. APPLETON & CO., 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street.
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